Crematorium
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, cremation could only take place on an outdoor, open pyre; the alternative was burial.
In the 19th century, the development of new furnace technology and contact with cultures that practiced cremation led to its reintroduction in the Western world.
In 1869 the idea was presented to the Medical International Congress of Florence by Professors Coletti and Castiglioni "in the name of public health and civilization".
Through this method, an open-hearth furnace can reach temperatures high enough to melt steel, and this process made cremation an efficient and practical proposal.
Charles's nephew, Carl Friedrich von Siemens perfected the use of this furnace for the incineration of organic material at his factory in Dresden.
[clarify] The efficient and cheap process brought about the quick and complete incineration of the body and was a fundamental technical breakthrough that finally made industrial cremation a practical possibility.
Golders Green Crematorium was built from 1901 to 1928 in London and pioneered two features that would become common in future crematoria: the separation of entrance and exit, and a garden of remembrance.
[1] In the extermination camps created by the authorities of Nazi Germany during the World War II with the "final solutions to the Jewish question", crematoria were widely used for the disposal of corpses.
[citation needed] While a crematorium can be any place containing a cremator, modern crematoria are designed to serve a number of purposes.
[1] While open outdoor pyres were used in the past and are often still used in many areas of the world today, notably India, most cremation in industrialized nations takes place within enclosed furnaces designed to maximize use of the thermal energy consumed while minimizing the emission of smoke and odors.
Video for example-how a crematorium works [15] A human body usually contains a negative caloric value, meaning that energy is required to combust it.
A 68 kg (150 lbs) body which contains 65% water will require 100 MJ of thermal energy before any combustion will take place.
This chamber has at least one burner to provide the heat which vaporizes the water content of the body and aids in combustion of the organic portion.
[18] Higher temperatures speed cremation but consume more energy, generate more nitric oxide, and accelerate spalling of the furnace's refractory lining.
