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Ability of crematoriums to actually cremate the numbers claimed
1. Deniers claim out that since modern cremations take about 2 hours, the number of Jews cremated at the camps must have been exaggerated.
2. As the Quick fact points out, there is a vast difference between a modern crematorium and the furnaces in the Nazi camps.
Crematoriums burn one body at a time. The body is placed in a cold furnace which normally uses natural gas or fuel oil. Once the body is in place, the furnace is fired up and allowed to reach the temperature where the remains are reduced to bones and ashes. The furnace is then allowed to cool down so that the ashes and bones can be recovered by the crematorium staff. These bones and ashes are then placed in a bone grinder (similar to a domestic coffee grinder) and reduced to a fine powder which is then delivered to the family. That process takes around two hours.
The "crematoriums" in the camps are more properly "incinerators". In these facilities the furnaces are coal or coke fired and are kept running at a high temperature all of the time. There is no need to start the heating process for every corpse. The bodies are fed into the furnace one after another - and often several corpses at one time. The design of these incinerators allow the bones and ashes of the corpses to drop through a chute of sorts where they can be recovered with shovels and tongs by the workers. There is no effort to separate the remains of one corpse from another. Such a continuous incinerating process is identical to the one used in modern Continual Burn Incinerators. A description of this process was taken from the brochure of one of the manufacturers of this type of incinerators:
In the Continual Feed process, waste is introduced into a charging hopper either manually or by an, automatic cart dumper. Then the charging hopper door is closed, the primary chamber refractory lined, gate is raised, and the waste is introduced into the primary chamber by a hydraulic ram, mechanism., Next, the burning waste is moved through the primary chamber by a charging ram and one or more, ash pushers. They move the steadily-reducing mass of waste to the end of the chamber. Then, if the, system is equipped with automatic ash removal, the ash drops through a water seal into a water, filled tank. From there it is moved by either a drag conveyor, or an ash sweep,, to a dumpster for removal from the area. In systems not equipped with the, automatic ash removal, the ash remains in the primary chamber until the system is cooled down. It is, them removed manually.At or near capacity our continuous feed incinerators operate without auxiliary fuel. The systems, maintain precise control over the combustion process through a design which rigidly governs the, introduction of all air.
Another type of incinerator is that used for pathological materials, carcasses, etc. These have the following characteristics:
Pathological Incinerators are designed to consume Type IV waste.This includes:
Human and animal remains, consisting of carcasses, organs and solid wastes from hospitals, laboratories, abatoirs, animal shelters and similar sources. These waste consist of up to 85% moisture and 5% incombustible solids with a heating value of 1000 BTUs per pound as fired
Unlike the starved-air systems of Continual Burn and Batch Burn Incinerators, Pathological Incinerators function on excess air. This design parameter addresses the need to evaporate the majority of the waste being destroyed, and it also permits the system to be loaded during operation without risk of an environmental upset or a disturbance in the combustion process.
Pathological Incinerator also differs from other systems in that the hearth is heated from combustion occurring within the secondary chamber which is below the primary chamber. The heated hearth allows for a better reduction of the oils and other liquids emanating from the Type IV waste.
Waste can be loaded every 15 minutes at one fourth of the hourly rated capacity. For example, a 200-pound-per-hour unit could be loaded with approximately 50 pounds of waste every 15 minutes.
Obviously the larger the furnace, the larger the incinerating capacity.
3. It is clear from this that the denier claim is false.