A bloomery is a type of furnace once widely used for smelting iron from its oxides. Unlike a blast furnace, a bloomery is operated at temperatures below the melting point of cast iron (1130 °C); instead of molten iron, its product is a spongy mass of iron called a bloom. A furnace is a device for heating air or any other fluid. ... Jump to: navigation, search General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... Iron oxide pigment There are a number of iron oxides: Iron oxides Iron(II) oxide or ferrous oxide (FeO) The black-coloured powder in particular can cause explosions as it readily ignites. ... A blast furnace is a type of furnace for smelting whereby the combustion material and ore are supplied with air from the bottom of the chamber such that the chemical reaction does not take place only at the surface. ... Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but can mean any of a group of iron-based alloys containing more than 2% carbon (alloys with less carbon are carbon steel by definition). ...

A bloomery consists of a pit or chimney with heat-resistant walls made of earth, clay, or stone. Near the bottom, one or more clay pipes enter through the side walls. These tuyeres allow air to enter the furnace, either by natural draft, or forced with a bellows. In operation, the bloomery is preheated by burning charcoal, and once hot, iron ore and additional charcoal are introduced through the top. A chimney is a system for venting hot gases and smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. ... Hand bellows The bellows is a device for delivering pressured air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents of animal and vegetable substances. ...

Inside the furnace, carbon monoxide from the incomplete combustion of the charcoal reduces the iron oxides in the ore to metallic iron. The small particles of iron produced in this way fall to the bottom of the furnace and become welded together to form a spongy mass called a bloom. The bottom of the furnace also fills with slag, a molten mixture of impurities in the ore. Because the bloom is highly porous, and its open spaces are full of slag, the bloom must later be reheated and beaten with a hammer to drive the molten slag out of it. Iron forged in this way is wrought iron. Carbon monoxide, chemical formula CO, is a colourless, odourless, flammable and highly toxic gas. ... Wrought iron is a very pure form of commercial iron, having a very small carbon content. ...

Historically, bloomery use coincides with the onset of the iron age in most parts of the world. Beginning around 1100 BC in the near east and southern Greece, the iron age spread outward, reaching Egypt and Mesopotamia by 900 BC, central Europe and India by 800 BC, the Eurasian steppes by 700 BC, and sub-Saharan Africa by 400 BC. China presents somewhat of a special case: by 500 BC, metalworkers in the southern state of Wu had invented the blast furnace, and the means to decarburize the carbon-rich cast iron produced in a blast furnace to a low-carbon, wrought iron-like material. Archaeologists and historians continue to debate whether bloomery-based iron smelting was ever widely used in China. Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... (Redirected from 1100 BC) Centuries: 13th century BC - 12th century BC - 11th century BC Decades: 1150s BC 1140s BC 1130s BC 1120s BC 1110s BC - 1100s BC - 1090s BC 1080s BC 1070s BC 1060s BC 1050s BC Events and Trends 1100 BC - Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria conquers the Hittites... The Near East is a term commonly used by archaeologists and historians, less commonly by journalists and commentators, to refer to the region encompassing the Levant (modern Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon), Anatolia (modern Turkey), Mesopotamia (Iraq and eastern Syria), and the Iranian Plateau (Iran). ... Mesopotamia (Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the fertile cresent; Aramaic name being Beth-Nahrain House of Two Rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ... Centuries: 11th century BC - 10th century BC - 9th century BC Decades: 950s BC 940s BC 930s BC 920s BC 910s BC - 900s BC - 890s BC 880s BC 870s BC 860s BC 850s BC Events and Trends 909 BC - Zhou xiao wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China. ... World map showing Europe (geographically) When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ... Centuries: 10th century BC - 9th century BC - 8th century BC Decades: 850s BC 840s BC 830s BC 820s BC 810s BC - 800s BC - 790s BC 780s BC 770s BC 760s BC 750s BC Events and Trends 804 BC - Hadad-nirari IV of Assyria conquers Damascus. ... African-Eurasian aspect of Earth Eurasia is the landmass composed of the continents of Europe and Asia. ... A steppe in Western Kazakhstan in early spring In physical geography, a steppe (from Russian step) is a plain without trees (apart from those near rivers and lakes); it is similar to a prairie, although a prairie is generally reckoned as being dominated by tall grasses, while short grasses are... Centuries: 9th century BC - 8th century BC - 7th century BC Decades: 750s BC 740s BC 730s BC 720s BC 710s BC - 700s BC - 690s BC 680s BC 670s BC 660s BC 650s BC Events and Trends 708 BC - Spartan immigrants found Taras (Tarentum, the modern Taranto) colony in southern Italy. ... A satellite composite image of Africa showing the ecological break between North and Sub-Saharan regions Sub-Saharan Africa, Africa south of the Sahara Desert, is the term used to describe those countries of Africa that are not part of North Africa. ... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC - 400s BC - 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC Years: 405 BC 404 BC 403 BC 402 BC 401 BC - 400 BC - 399 BC 398 BC... Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC - 450s BC Events and Trends 509 BC - Foundation of the Roman Republic 508 BC - Office of pontifex maximus created... Wu was a state during the Spring and Autumn Period in China. ...

Most bloomeries were relatively small, smelting less than 100 kg of iron with each firing. Medieval Europe saw the construction of progressively larger bloomeries. The Catalan forge, used in Visigothic Spain, was a bellows-powered bloomery capable of smelting up to 150 kg (350 lb) in each heat. In the eight and ninth centuries under the Frankish empire, large bloomeries were also built in the Rhine valley. The use of waterwheels to power the bellows allowed the bloomery to become larger and hotter; some of the largest of this period were 5 meters (16 ft) tall and could smelt up to 350 kg (750 lb) at a time. By the early 14th century, the largest bloomeries ran hot enough to produce molten metal; that is, they had become blast furnaces. The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. ... Statue of Charlemagne (also called Karl der Große, Charles the Great) in Frankfurt, Germany. ... The Rhine canyon (Ruinaulta) in Graubünden in Switzerland Length 1,320 km Elevation of the source Vorderrhein: approx. ... An overshot water wheel standing 42 feet high powers the Old Mill at Berry College in Rome, Georgia A water wheel (also waterwheel, Norse mill, Persian wheel or noria) is a hydropower system; a system for extracting power from a flow of water. ...

External links

• Rockbridge bloomery
• WIRG experimental bloomery
• Precursors of the blast furnace
• Roger Smith's article on bloomery construction