86. Do you know what a bloomery is?
From Quiz Misleading Words
Answer:
An old type furnace for smelting iron
These fascinating old pieces of equipment were initially made out of clay, stone, or even earth, and packed so densely that their walls were heat resistant. They looked a little like overturned flowerpots. A pipe fed in through one of walls at the bottom, which, when attached to bellows, allowed air to enter the furnace. On another side was another small opening to allow for the burning of charcoal. The ore to be smelted was broken up into small pieces and dropped down with equal amounts of more charcoal through an opening at the top of the furnace onto the already burning charcoal below. Amazingly so, the heat within then alters the content of the iron oxides in the small pieces of ore into metallic iron, BUT without melting the ore. Instead they drop down to the bottom of the bloomery into a mass. This is later reheated to remove the impurities and then beaten into the required shape.
This is even more amazing. By altering the heat and air flow within the furnace, the iron ore can be changed into steel as well! These old bloomeries have been found from eras in history dating back to more than 3,000 BC. Oh my goodness, the mind of man and his thousands of inventions is a never ending source of fascination for me. How on earth did they ever think of that in the first place?