Kiln

A kilnan enclosed or partially enclosed construction for firing ceramic materials. Kilns may be labelled on the basis of the characteristics of construction or by their firing characteristics. Some important types of kilns include:
 * bottle: an updraft kiln with a narrow chimney, shaped like a bottle;
 * clamp: an open-topped updraught kiln, of semi-permanent construction, usually with intermixed fuel and ware;
 * climbing: a kiln set along a slope to aid the draught;
 * continuous: a kiln in which the ware is fed continuously into the kiln on a track and moving through it during firing;
 * downdraught: an enclosed periodic kiln in which the heat is passed to the top of the kiln, and then the draught carries it down through the ware;
 * intermittent (periodic): a kiln that is loaded, fired, cooled, and then unloaded before firing a new batch;
 * muffle: a kiln constructed so that the ware is not directly subjected to the radiant heat from the flame or heating elements;
 * pit: a clamp that is excavated partially into the ground;
 * scove: an updraught kiln usually having no permanent parts;
 * tunnel: a type of continuous kiln;
 * updraught: a kiln in which the heat or flame passes upward through the ware and then is vented outside (Rice 1987)

A kiln may also be defined as:
 * 1) the furnaces, ovens, or heated enclosures for drying, charring, hardening, baking, or burning various materials (Getty 1990)
 * 2) a high-temperature installation used for firing ceramic ware or for calcining or sintering. Kilns for firing ceramics are of three main types: intermittent, annular and tunnel. For calcining and sintering, shaft kilns, rotary kilns and multiple hearth furnaces are used (Dodd & Murfin 1994)
 * 3) the kilns used for burning bricks are usually 13 feet long, by 10 feet 6 inches in width, and 12 feet in height. The walls are one brick and a half thick, and incline inward as they rise. A kiln is generally built to contain 20,000 bricks at each burning (Gwilt 1867)