bloomaries

Updated: August 23, 2026

Hard-wood coal weighs more than soft, and the hard variety of charcoal is usually preferred for blast furnaces, and for such purposes there is an advantage of fully 33-1/3 per cent. or even more in using hard woods. For the direct process in the bloomaries, soft-wood charcoal is preferred. It is found that it is not usually advantageous to build kilns of over 160 to 180 cubic meters in capacity.

Various - Scientific American Supplement, No. 415, December 15, 1883