Athanor

The Athanor is a special oven which was used by the alchemists. The name derives from the Arabic word at- Tannur for ( Back) furnace or water pipe.

Function and accessories from alchemical furnaces

For alchemical processes warming or heating played an important role.

An important process was, for example, distillation. By heating a liquid substance to vaporize. The vapors condensed and were derived in a distillate receiver. The situation is similar with the sublimation: In this method, a solid substance was heated; their vapors sat down in solid form to the cooler parts of the Sublimationsgefäßes again. Another important process is the digestion (from the Latin digerere, digest ) dar. The Alchemist understood by it a digestive or maturation process. He gave the substances in a securely sealed vessel and let them under uniform temperature for a few days or weeks to "mature ".

In the Middle Ages it presented a problem to control the heat input of the furnaces. After adjusting slide had been invented in the 16th century, with which one could regulate the air supply, the achievement of various Hitzgraden in the same furnace was also possible. Before there was this lock slider, had the alchemist for each degree of heat was needed for a particular operation, have their own oven.

The ovens were mostly built of brick and cemented with a special Ofenlehm. There was metal ovens, consisting of copper or iron. Also, there were prepared from clay ovens. The fuel was wood or charcoal. Each furnace had an ash, a fire and a working space in principle. However, they were not always separated.

Furnace types

The Athanor was also called Philosophical furnace, because in him the Philosopher ( lapis philosophorum ) stone should be established. In a philosophical oven a substance could be treated in a sealed vessel over a longer period with mild and uniform heat. The construction of the furnace was shaped tower and in its interior, there was an oval, which is fused vessel ( philosophical egg). This vessel contained the substance that should be converted to the Philosopher's Stone.

In the 16th century came with the so-called convenience furnace (also lazy Harry or Piger Henricus called ) is a type of furnace in use, which had a separate slot for the fuel. From this shaft the charcoal slid steadily, so that spent fuel was refilled automatically. The Alchemist so did not have to regularly lay wood charcoal.