Furnace - ro (English spelling)

Japanese: 炉 - ろ（英語表記）furnace

A device designed to heat or melt something. A kiln is used for high-temperature firing, but the distinction between furnaces and kilns is not always strictly made, and they are generally called kiln furnaces or industrial kilns. They are widely used in many industrial fields, including iron and steel making, metal refining and processing, city gas and coke production, steam generation, ceramic firing, and cement production, and the types of heat-resistant materials and heating methods used to make furnaces vary depending on the desired heating temperature. Broadly speaking, there are reaction furnaces designed to cause chemical changes inside objects, heat treatment furnaces that cause physical changes, sterilization furnaces for sterilization, incinerators, scorching furnaces and preheating furnaces for metal processing, and melting furnaces used to melt alloys and ingots for casting. Heating methods are divided into combustion heating, which uses fuel, and physical heating, which does not use fuel, and according to the heating means, the former include coke ovens, gas furnaces, heavy oil furnaces, coal furnaces, and nuclear furnaces, while the latter include electric furnaces (resistance furnaces, high-frequency furnaces, low-frequency furnaces, etc.), arc furnaces, electron beam furnaces, plasma furnaces, arc image furnaces, solar furnaces, etc. They can also be classified according to the medium that surrounds the heated object, such as vacuum furnaces, inert gas furnaces, reduced-pressure furnaces, and atmospheric furnaces.

Furnace

A hearth used in the tea ceremony. The hearths built in tea rooms have exterior dimensions of about 42.5 cm (1 shaku 4 sun) square, with a hearth depth of about 45 cm (1 shaku 5 sun), and come in lacquered, stone, iron, copper, and other types. There are also two types of cut hearth: iriro (corner hearth, etc.) and dero. Charcoal fire is used, and a wooden hearth lid is placed over it when not in use. A furo (furo) is used in summer and autumn.

Furnace

Irori. A box-shaped indoor floor cut into the ground to store fire for keeping warm, boiling water, and cooking. In rural areas, hearths for keeping warm and cooking are usually 1m square and often have a lock hanging from the ceiling.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

物を加熱したり溶融したりする目的でつくられた装置。高温焼成に用いられるものを窯というが，炉と窯の区別は必ずしも厳密になされているわけではなく，一般に窯炉あるいは工業窯炉とも呼ばれる。製鉄をはじめ金属の精錬・加工，都市ガス，コークスの製造，スチーム発生，陶磁器の焼成，セメント製造など，多くの工業分野で広く用いられており，目的とする加熱温度の高低によって炉をつくる耐熱材料の種類や加熱方式はさまざまである。大別すると，物の内部に化学的変化を起させることを目的とした反応炉，物理的変化を起させる熱処理炉，殺菌を目的とした滅菌炉，焼却炉，金属加工の前処理を行う灼熱炉・予備加熱炉，合金などの融製や鋳物用の地金を溶かすときに用いられる融解炉などがある。加熱の方式には，燃料を用いる燃焼加熱式と燃料を用いない物理的加熱式とがあり，それぞれ加熱手段によって，前者にはコークス炉，ガス炉，重油炉，石炭炉，原子炉など，後者には電気炉 (抵抗炉，高周波炉，低周波炉など) ，アーク炉，電子ビーム炉，プラズマ炉，アーク・イメージ炉，太陽炉などと呼ばれるものがある。また，真空炉，不活性ガス炉，減圧炉，大気炉など，加熱物体を包む媒体による分類もある。

炉
ろ

茶道で用いる炉。茶室に造る炉は外のり寸法約 42.5cm (1尺4寸) 四方，炉壇の深さは約 45cm (1尺5寸) で，塗炉，石炉，鉄炉，銅炉などがある。また炉の切り方の形式には入り炉 (隅炉など) ，出炉 (でろ) がある。炭火を使用し，使わないときは木の炉ぶたをする。夏，秋には風炉 (ふろ) を用いる。