When a person dies in the United States, we normally have two ways of treating the body. We can bury the body in the ground with a casket or we can have the body cremated. Final disposition of the body is regulated by the laws of the state in which you reside. If you are going to use the cremation process, it will help to understand how it works.
The body is delivered to a crematorium, a facility that is normally licensed by the state to perform the cremations. There are laws set up to dictate how the body is to be delivered and handled. It is usually delivered in a combustible casket since the container is not to be opened at the crematorium. A corrugated cardboard container or some kind of combustible insert can also be used. This allows the casket to be rented if there is a funeral service performed, and the casket can then be recycled or reused.
Once, the body is delivered to the crematorium, the cremation would typically need to be completed within 24 hours. The casket or container with the body in it is delivered on a shuttle into the cremator, the furnace used to incinerate the body. The furnace reaches temperatures of 2000deg. F. during the cremation process in order to reduce the body to ashes and bits of bone. It usually takes about an hour and a half to two hours, depending on how large the body is and what kind of container is used. The process is computer controlled for temperature and emissions. There is only one body cremated at a time.
When the cremation process is complete, the door is opened and the ashes and remains are brushed into a container. A large magnet is passed over the remains to remove any metals that were contained in the body (joint replacements, orthopedic pins, etc.). At this point, their are still bone fragments that were not completely incinerated. The entire container is taken to a cremulator. This machine can use rotating devices, grinders, or ball bearings to pulverize the remains into a dust or powder. This process takes about 20 minutes. An ash capsule is used to contain the remains. The ash capsule is then put into a cinerary urn or the container of your choice. The default container used by the crematorium might vary, but it could be some sort of plastic box with a snap down clasp.
The entire cremation process is typically regulated by state law, licenses, and permits. Details can often be found in the statutes for the state that you reside. There is a new method of cremation called bio cremation that is just recently being approved in some states and is expected to become a more environmentally friendly option in the near future.
