Blast Furnaces: The Start of Urbanization
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What is a blast furnace?
A blast furnace is essentially a giant oven that, nowadays, heats metals to thousands of degrees (American Iron and Steel Institute). However, when the blast furnace was first invented in Ancient China, it could only heat up to around 1300 degrees Celsius (Rostoker et al. 197).
Figure 1: diagram of an Ancient Chinese blast furnace.
Figure 1: diagram of an Ancient Chinese blast furnace.
Figure 2: diagram of a blast furnace in modern times.
Figure 2: diagram of a blast furnace in modern times.
Why was the blast furnace needed in Ancient China?
The blast furnace provided the Ancient Chinese with a more accessible metal to make tools like the one shown in figure 3. It also forced the Ancient Chinese people to expand and build bigger cities where excess food needed to be collected and handed out by specialized workers (Rostoker et al. 209).
Figure 3: an iron tool used made by an Ancient Chinese Blast furnace around 170 BC
Figure 7: drawing of a blast furnace powered by a vertical axle water wheel.
How was a blast furnace made and how did they work?
The blast furnace was always hollowed out to let smoke escape and to contain the flame; it typically had a cylindrical shaped body, known as the stack, and two main holes built into it: a hole for oxygen or carbon dioxide to be pushed into, and a hole to let the iron and the furnace’s fuel enter. There are a few exceptions, however, a few furnaces, such as those shown in figures 4-6, were built into cliff sides to prevent the need for the stack to be built. To allow for a sturdier stack, these furnaces had a third hole below the hole for iron and fuel, whose purpose was to let more heat escape (Wagner 43). Blast furnaces were usually powered by a water wheel and a river. The river would spin the water wheel, which would make the billow push air into the furnace to oxygenate the fire. Figure 7 shows an example of how the blast furnaces are powered.
The cast iron that the blast furnaces produced started as raw iron ore that was dug up from nearby mines, they were then heated up to extreme temperatures in an environment with excess carbon. As the ore heated, it would absorb the carbon which allowed it to be melted to a liquid state at lower than usual temperatures. (Read 544)
Figure 8: an Ancient Chinese coin made of iron.
What impact did blast furnaces have on the Ancient Chinese?
The blast furnace would eventually help to urbanize the Ancient Chinese civilization by producing an important product for the entire nation (Rostoker et al. 209). It also made tools more accessible to everybody, which allowed for more farming to be done in the Ancient Chinese empire (Rostoker et al. 196).
Figure 9: a skyscraper made out of steel.
What impact did blast furnaces have on later civilizations?
The blast furnace did not spread to other civilizations very quickly, but eventually it would go on to produce steel for the construction of skyscrapers and many other things that are present in today’s world. Blast furnaces aren’t the same as they used to be, but they serve the same purpose. Back in the 1960’s, the United States annually produced an estimated 1,500 pounds of steel per person living there (Potter). That is around 130 million tons of steel produced per year!
What made blast furnaces so historically important?
The blast furnace allowed for the use of irons including cast iron, wrought iron, pig iron, and steel. These irons were used for many things like decor and art, architecture, and tools. Without the blast furnace, the world as we know it would not be the same as it is today; a lot of our everyday appliances would be different or missing: toasters, washers and dryers, ovens, pans, and cars are just a few examples. The blast furnace was therefore an extremely important innovation.
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Figure 10: Image from "The Traditional Chinese Iron Industry and its Modern Fate" - Read this if you want to learn more about Ancient Chinese blast furnaces.
Figure 11: Image from "How a Blast Furnace Works" - Read this to learn more about modern blast furnaces.
Figure 12: Image from "Invention of Cast Iron Smelting in Early China" - Read this to discover more about cast iron in Ancient China.
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