Pottery at a Glance

Pottery is defined as clay that is chemically altered and permanently hardened by firing in a kiln. The nature and type of pottery, or ceramics (Greek keramos, “potter's clay”), is determined by the composition of the clay and the way it is prepared; the temperature at which it is fired; and the glazes used.

The Potter's Wheel: invented in the 4th millennium bc, is a flat disk that revolves horizontally on a pivot. Both hands—one on the inside and the other on the outside of the clay—are free to shape the pot upward from a ball of clay that is thrown and centered on the rotating wheel head. Some wheels are set in motion by a stick that fits into a notch in the wheel (often activated by an assistant); called a handwheel, this is the classical wheel of Japanese potters. In 16th-century Europe, with the addition of a flywheel separate from the wheel head and mounted in a frame, the potter could control the wheel by kicking the flywheel. A kick bar, or foot treadle, was added in the 19th century. In the 20th century the electric wheel with a variable-speed motor allowed greater and better regulated rotating speed.

Kiln: any of several kinds of furnace, heated electrically or by the combustion of fuel, used to fire pottery or other ceramic products, to roast ores, or in the production of cement. In modern engineering usage, little distinction is made between a furnace and a kiln, although the term kiln is always applied to the heating units used in ceramic and cement manufacture.

Kilns in general are of two types: intermittent kilns, in which the fire must be extinguished while the kiln is being unloaded and recharged with another batch of material to be fired; and continuous kilns, in which loading and unloading is accomplished while the kiln is lit. Modern kilns are of both types, although the various forms of continuous kilns are particularly suited to mass production manufacture. The two most important types of continuous kiln are the tunnel kiln, in which the material heated is moved through a long combustion chamber or heating zone on carts or conveyors, and the rotary kiln, in which the material is moved through a long, inclined, rotating combustion chamber by the force of gravity.
 

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