Smelting and conveyor belt: what they have in common
- Step 1. Smelting — uses — Charcoal. Before coke, metal was smelted with charcoal.
- Step 2. Charcoal — is material for — Gunpowder. Gunpowder is a mix of saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal.
- Step 3. Gunpowder — evolved into — Dynamite. A replacement for gunpowder in mining.
- Step 4. Dynamite — works like — Tunnelling shield. Two ways of driving tunnels — mechanical and explosive.
- Step 5. Tunnelling shield — evolved into — Tunnel boring machine. A development of the tunnelling shield.
- Step 6. Tunnel boring machine — has part — Conveyor belt. Spoil is removed by a conveyor.