Pot Furnaces

In artisan glassworks, the molten glass was made in pot furnaces. These were round or oblong and covered with a vault shaped dome. They held pots or crucibles made of heat-resistant clay which were accessible by small windows or openings for putting the raw materials into the furnace, for monitoring the firing and for taking out the glass.

The dimensions of the furnaces continued to increase reaching 20 pots. Important improvements in the performance of the furnaces in the 19th century allowed mass production companies to use pots with a capacity of up to 2 tons.