Hi Jim,
The Scottish Furnace, or Scotch Hearth as it is sometimes called, is an
ore-hearth - which was widely used in Northern England from the late 16th
century until the early 20th. It was a small, bellows blown hearth which
could smelt a few hundredweights of ore at time. It was fuelled with dried
wood and/or peat and sometimes a little coal was added. The ones around
Dubuque, in Iowa, and across the river in Illinois/Michegan appear to have
been introduced by lead miners from the Swaledale area of Yorkshire c1830.
American writers sometimes call them blast furnaces - which confuses the
English who use blast furnaces to smelt large amounts of iron.
Hope that helps.
Regards,
Mike Gill
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