A professional who controls cupola furnace to melt and refine iron, scrap metal, and other additives to produce gray iron castings. Respnsibilities include:

• Closes and props door in bottom of cupola.
• Shovels sand into cupola and tamps sand to form wedge-shaped layer on cupola bottom sloping toward taphole.
• Kindles fire, using gas torch, to ignite coke bed in cupola, and starts and sets speed of blowers that supply air to cupola.
• Signals cupola charger to begin charging metal, coke, and limestone into cupola.
• Reads gauges indicating temperature of molten metal in cupola and amount of air flowing into and out of cupola, and adjusts controls accordingly.
• Taps molten metal from cupola.
• Estimates, from color of slag draining from surface of molten metal, physical properties of metal being melted.
• Pulls prop from bottom doors of cupola, when shutting down furnace, to allow residual materials to drop out.
• May charge layer of excelsior, rags, and wood over sand bed to protect cupola from initial charge of coke and to ignite fuel.