Tuyere

Examples

• A bloomery normally had one tuyere.
• Early blast furnaces also had one tuyere, but were fed from bellows perhaps 12 feet long operated by a waterwheel. During the Industrial Revolution, the blast began to be provided using steam engines, initially Watt engines working blowing cylinders. Improvements in foundry practice enabled gas-tight cast iron pipes to be produced, enabling one engine to deliver blast to several sides of a furnace, through multiple tuyeres.
• A finery forge contained finery and chafery hearths, usually one of the latter and one to three of the former. Each hearth was equipped with its own set of bellows, blowing into it through a tuyere.
• The blacksmith's hearth at their forge has a tuyere, often blown by foot-operated bellows.
• Tuyeres were also used in smelting lead and copper in smeltmills.
• Modern blast furnaces may have up to 42 tuyeres, through which the hot blast is injected in the furnace. They are usually made from copper and cooled with a water jacket to withstand the extreme temperatures.