How does cremation work?

Question

My aunt recently passed away and she was cremated. How does that process work? I have heard that the bodies are stacked up and it takes months in some places. I have also heard that the bodies are crushed prior to cremation. Is any of that true? How does it actualy work?

Answer 1

Hi. Sorry about your aunt. The process is pretty simple. A single unit is placed in a chamber and heated ("light, like the sun") for about three hours. The remains are then screened for anything not consumed by the heat (small pieces of bone, metals, etc.) and then the ashes are placed in the container.

Answer 2

SUPPOSED to work like this.
They are put into a box where they are burned completely then the ashes are but into an urn.

Answer 3

they put you on a tray first take off peircings and jewlery then burn you...till you turn to ashes

Answer 4

Cremation is the practice of disposing of a corpse by burning. This often takes place in a crematorium or crematory. Cremation and burial are the main ways of final disposition of the dead.

Contents [hide]
1 Cremation process
1.1 Cremation furnace
1.2 Body container
1.3 Burning and ashes collection
1.4 The Pyre alternative
2 Ways of keeping or disposing of the cremated remains
3 History
4 Reasons for choosing cremation
4.1 Dharmic faiths
4.2 Christian
4.3 Judaism
4.4 Mormonism
4.5 Zoroastrianism
4.6 Neopaganism
4.7 List of religions that permit cremation
4.8 List of religions that forbid cremation
4.9 Other personal reasons
4.10 Environmental reasons
4.11 Cost of cremation
5 Environmental Concerns with Cremation
6 Negative recent history experiences with cremation
6.1 World War II
6.2 The Tri-State Crematory Incident
6.3 The Indian Ocean tsunamis
7 Sources
8 See also
9 External links



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Cremation process
The body is checked to make sure all jewelry has been removed.[edit]
Cremation furnace
The place where the cremation takes place is called crematorium. The crematorium consists of one or more ovens or furnaces and facilities for handling of the ashes. A cremation furnace is a large furnace capable of reaching high temperatures up to approximately 1600-1800 °F (870-980 °C) with special modifications to ensure the efficient disintegration of the corpse. One of these modifications is the aiming of the flames at the corpse's torso, where a majority of the corpse's mass rests.

The crematorium may be part of chapel or a funeral home, or it may be part of an independent facility or a service offered by a cemetery.

The body burns in the retort.The furnaces use a number of different fuel sources, such as natural or propane gas. Modern cremation furnaces include control systems that monitor the conditions inside the furnace while a cremation is taking place. The operator can make adjustments to provide for more efficient burning, as well as ensuring that minimal environmental pollution occurs.

A cremation furnace is not designed to cremate more than one body at a time, and to do so is against the law in all 50 US states and many other nations.

The chamber where the body is placed is called the retort. It is lined with special bricks to help retain the heat. These bricks require replacement after about five years because of continual expansion and contraction due to temperature cycling.

Modern cremators are computer-controlled with safety devices and interlocks to ensure legal and safe use, e.g., the door cannot be opened until the cremator has reached the correct operating temperature. The coffin is injected into the retort as quickly as possible to avoid heat loss from the top-opening door. The coffin may be on a motorised trolley that can inject the coffin at speed, or one that can tilt to tip the coffin down a slope into the cremator.

Crematoriums will allow relatives to view the injection and sometimes this is done for religious reasons, e.g., Hindus. However, notwithstanding the respect with which the deceased is treated, this is fundamentally an industrial process and not recommended for the sensitive or faint-of-heart.

Cremators are a standard size. Large cities will have access to an oversize cremator that can handle deceased in the 200+ kg range. However, the morbidly obese cannot be cremated and must be buried.

[edit]
Body container
The remains are then sifted through to make sure the fragments are small enough.A body to be cremated is first placed in a container for cremation, which can be a simple corrugated cardboard box or a wooden casket. Most casket manufacturers provide a line of caskets specially built for cremation. Another option is a cardboard box that fits inside a wooden shell designed to look like a traditional casket. After the funeral service the interior box is removed from the shell before cremation, permitting the shell to be reused.

Funeral homes may also offer rental caskets, which are traditional caskets used only for the duration of the services, after which the body is transferred to another container for cremation. Rental caskets are sometimes designed with removable beds and liners, replaced after each use.

In Australian, the deceased is cremated in the coffin supplied by the undertaker. Reusable or cardboard coffins are unknown. If cost is an issue, a plain, particle-board coffin known in the trade as a 'chippie' will be offered. Handles (if fitted) are plastic and approved for use in a cremator. Coffins vary from unfinished particle board (covered with a velvet pall if there is a service) to solid timber. Most are veneered particle board.

Cremations can be 'delivery only' with no preceding chapel service at the crematorium (although a church service may have been held) or preceded by a service in one of the crematorium chapels. Delivery-only allows crematorioums to schedule cremations to make best use of the cremators, perhaps by holding the body overnight in a refrigerator. As a result a lower fee is applicable. Delivery-only may be referred to by industry jargon such as 'west chapel service'.

[edit]
Burning and ashes collection
Remains with large pieces are put into a machine, the 'cremulator', that grinds them down to ash.The box containing the body is placed in the retort and incinerated at a temperature of 760 to 1150 °C (1400 to 2100 °F). During the cremation process, a large part of the body (especially the organs) and other soft tissue is vaporized due to the heat and is discharged through the exhaust system. All that remains after cremation are bone fragments, representing about five percent of the body's original mass, and the ashes of the cardboard box or wooden container. The entire process usually takes about two hours.

Jewellery, such as wristwatches and rings, are not removed. The only non-natural item required to be removed is a pacemaker. The undertaker is required to sign a declaration to the operator that any pacemaker has been removed. A pacemaker could explode and damage the cremator. The undertaker will remove a pacemaker prior to delivering the body to the crematorium.

After the incineration is completed, the bone fragments are swept out of the retort, and the operator uses a pulverizer called a cremulator (also known informally as a crembola) to process them into a consistent powder. The cremulator is essentially a rotating drum similar to a spindryer, except it is filled with steel ball bearings whose disturbance powders the weakened bones.

In Japan and Taiwan, the bones are not pulverized unless requested beforehand.

This is one of the reasons cremated remains are called ashes although a technical term sometimes used is "cremains". The ashes are placed in a container, which can be anything from a simple cardboard box to a fancy urn. An unavoidable consequence of cremation is that a tiny residue of bodily remains is left in the chamber after cremation and mixes with subsequent cremations.

Not all that remains is bone. There will be melted metal lumps from jewellery, casket furniture, and dental fillings, and surgical implants such as hip replacements. After grinding, these are sieved out and later interred in common, consecrated ground in a remote area of the cemetery.

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The Pyre alternative
An alternative method used in some cultures, such as Hinduism, is burning the corpse on a pyre. A pyre is a pile of wood upon which the deceased's body is placed on top or inside of. The mound is lit on fire, the fire consumes the wood and the deceased. This method is not commonly found in the western world where crematorium ovens are used, and is forbidden by law in some countries.

[edit]
Ways of keeping or disposing of the cremated remains
Cremated remains are boxed with a plastic liner for the family to do as they wish, or placed in an urn and sealed shut.Cremated remains are returned to the next of kin in a rectangular plastic container, contained within a further cardboard box or velvet sack. An official certificate of cremation prepared under the authority of the crematorium accompanies the remains.

Cremated remains can be kept in an urn, sprinkled on a special field or in the sea, or buried in the ground. In addition, there are several services which will scatter the cremated remains in a variety of ways and locations. Some examples are via a helium balloon, through fireworks, shot from shotgun shells or scattered from a plane. One service will send the remains into space. They can also be incorporated, with urn and cement, into part of an artificial reef. Cremated remains can be scattered in national parks in the US, with a special permit. They can also be scattered on private property, with the owner's permission. A portion of the cremated remains may be retained in a specially designed locket known as a keepsake pendant. The final disposition depends on the personal wishes of the deceased as well as their religious beliefs. Some religions will permit the cremated remains to be sprinkled or kept at home. Some religions, such as Roman Catholicism, insist on either burying or entombing the remains.

Hinduism obliges the closest male relative (son, father, husband, etc.) of the deceased to immerse the cremated remains in the holy river Ganges, preferably at the holy city of Haridwar, India. The cremated remains may also be entombed, in case the deceased was a well-known person.

In Japan and Taiwan, the remaining bone fragments are given to the family and are used in a burial ritual before final interment.

[edit]
History
Cremation first appears in the Levant in the Neolithic, but declines with Semitic settlement of the area in the 3rd millennium. Cremation was widely regarded as barbarian in the Ancient Near East, to be used only by necessity in times of plague. The Babylonians, according to Herodotus, embalmed their dead, and the Zoroastrian Persians punished capitally even attempted cremation, with special regulations for the purification of fire so desecrated.

In Europe, there are traces of cremation dating to the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2000 BC) in the Pannonian Plain and along the middle Danube. The custom becomes dominant throughout Bronze Age Europe with the Urnfield culture (from ca. 1300 BC). In the Iron Age, inhumation becomes again more common, but cremation persisted in the Villanovan culture and elsewhere. Homer's account of Patroclus' burial describes cremation with subsequent burial in a tumulus similar to Urnfield burials, qualifying as the earliest description of cremation rites. Early cremation may have been connected to ideas of fire sacrifice, such as those to Taranis in Celtic paganism (see human sacrifice).

Hinduism is notable for not only allowing but prescribing cremation. Cremation in India is first attested in the Cemetery H culture (from ca. 1900 BC), considered the formative stage of Vedic civilization. The Rigveda contains a reference to the emerging practice, in RV 10.15.14, where the forefathers "both cremated (agnidagdhá-) and uncremated (ánagnidagdha-)" are invoked.

Cremation was common, but not universial, in both Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. In Rome, inhumation was considered the more archaic rite (Cicero, De Leg., 2.22), and indeed the Cornelian gens, one of the most cultured in Rome, had, with the single exception of Sulla, never permitted the burning of their dead. Christianity frowned upon cremation, both influenced by the tenets of Judaism, and in an attempt to abolish Graeco-Roman pagan rituals. By the 5th century, the practice of cremation had practically disappeared from Europe.

The modern cremation movements began only in 1873, with the presentation of a cremation chamber by Paduan Professor Brunetti at the Vienna Exposition. In Britain, the movement found the support of Queen Victoria's surgeon, Sir Henry Thompson, who together with colleagues founded the Cremation Society of England in 1874. The first crematories in Europe were built in 1878 in Woking, England and Gotha, Germany, the first in North America in 1876 by Julius LeMoyne in Washington, Pennsylvania. Cremation was declared as legal in England and Wales when Dr William Price was prosecuted for cremating his son; formal legislation followed later with the passing of the Cremation Act 1902[1], (this Act did not extend to Ireland) which imposed procedural requirements before a cremation could occur and restricted the practice to authorised places. Some of the various Protestant churches came to accept cremation, with the rationale being, "God can resurrect a bowl of ashes just as conveniently as he can resurrect a bowl of dust". The 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia is critical about these efforts, referring to them as "these sinister movements" and associating them with Freemasonry. In 1963, Pope Paul VI lifted the ban on cremation, and in 1966 allowed Catholic priests to officiate at cremation ceremonies.