Furnace for melting bronze

Among Leonardo’s interests, we also find the art of foundry. His manuscripts, in fact, display drawings of various typologies of furnaces for founding metals. The model represents a sectional view of an open-hearth furnace for founding bronze. The metal was placed on the pavement of a broad vaulted chamber, called the founding chamber, and heated to liquefaction by means of the heat radiating from the chamber vault and walls. The furnace is separated from the melting chamber and is equipped with a smokestack for expelling the smoke generated by combustion.