blast furnace
a vertical cylindrical furnace for smelting iron, copper, lead, and tin ores. The ore, scrap, solid fuel, and slag-forming materials are fed through the top and a blast of preheated air is forced through the charge from the bottom. Metal and slag are run off from the base
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
blast furnace
[′blast ‚fər·nəs] (metallurgy)
A tall, cylindrical smelting furnace for reducing iron ore to pig iron; the blast of air blown through solid fuel increases the combustion rate.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.