Magnesite Blocks: Dead-Burnt and Gently Calcined Magnesite Moulded and Fired at a Red Heat (Thorpe 1912)

Magnesite blocks are refractory bricks of burnt magnesia, which hardly melts; they lined basic Bessemer converters and electric steel furnaces. Thorpe's Dictionary of Applied Chemistry (1912) gives the method in one sentence: crushed dead-burnt magnesite, mixed with enough gently calcined magnesite to make the paste plastic, wetted, moulded and fired at a red heat. He gives no heat for dead-burning, no proportions and no brick size; those are unknown here. Source: Thorpe, Dictionary of Applied Chemistry vol. III (1912), MAGNESIUM, p. 371. Picture: that passage.