bar iron: a smaller size of raw iron than a pig, easier to handle by blacksmiths. Some bar iron also went to rolling mills, which rolled the iron into much smaller thicknesses, or slitting mills, which made iron rods for products like nails or wire
bellows: a device that contracts a current or air through a nozzle
bosh: a cylinder inside the furnace where the raw ingredients were mixed and melted
charcoal: charred wood, used as the fuel for a charcoal iron furnace
char: to burn wood partially to make into charcoal
coaling: smoldering wood into charcoal
collier: a person who burns wood into charcoal
filler: ironworker who loaded the raw ingredients into the furnace stack
flux: a substance that helps fuse together or separate metals; in an iron furnace limestone is used as flux to separate pure iron from impurities in iron
forge: a workshop where iron is made malleable (able to be hammered) or where wrought iron is produced from pig iron
founder: ironworker who makes castings from iron
fuel: something burned to make heat, such as wood, coal, charcoal, or oil
furnace: a stone stack shaped like a pyramid with the top part taken off, where iron ore was smelted into iron
impurities: in ironmaking, the parts of the iron ore that are not pure iron
iron: a hard, gray, brittle metal
iron ore: the natural mineral that contains iron
mine: to remove minerals from the earth; can be done on the surface or by digging deep into the earth
molten: melted, as in metal
overshot wheel: a kind of waterwheel in which the water poured over the top to move the wheel
pig iron: crude iron in a bar shape; direct product of a charcoal iron furnace
raw ingredients: the basic ingredients needed to make iron; for charcoal iron they were trees (for charcoal), iron ore, limestone, and water
resident ironmaster: the man in charge of an iron furnace, often the owner, who lived in a mansion in the furnace village
scrip: a company money that could only be used at the company store
self-reliant: able to meet all your needs yourself; an iron village like Centre Furnace was mostly self-reliant because they did not need to import very much
slag: the leftovers from the ironmaking process, the impurities left when the iron is smelted
smelt: to melt iron ore in order to obtain the pure metal
smolder: to burn wood without hot flames so as not to burn the wood completely
stack: the stone furnace structure in which iron was made
tapping: allowing the molten metal to flow out of the bottom of a furnace. The founder would open a small door and let the iron flow out. Iron furnaces were tapped twice a day
tuyère: pipe at the bottom of the furnace stack; air was pumped by bellows, through the tuyères, into the stack in order to keep the furnace hot