by Buffy Cranford

Created on: November 05, 2009   Last Updated: December 09, 2009

Families often wonder when they release the deceased for cremation what the process entails and if their dearly departed are respected and loved in death as they were in life. If the family intends to have a viewing or open casket funeral, the body is first embalmed. For a funeral void of viewing, the body of the departed is cleaned and placed in a storage facility at the funeral home. Once the family has made arrangements with the funeral home and signed the necessary paperwork, the home prepares the body for cremation.

The minimum requirement for cremation is a cremation container. This is usually a corrugated cardboard box roughly the same size as a casket. Families may choose to use a cremation casket; wooden caskets assembled without screws or metal so the retort consumes the entire casket.

The retort is a furnace designed specifically for cremation. If the crematorium uses clay markers for cremations, the number for the marker is matched with the paperwork for the cremation and placed into the cremation container. The retort is heated between 760 and 1150 degrees Celsius. The cremation container may be placed on a charger (motorized trolley) used to insert the cremation container into the retort. Some crematories allow families to view the charging.

The deceased is dressed (no shoes or belts) and the funeral director or mortician removes all jewelry and returns it to the family. If the deceased had a pacemaker, it is removed prior to dressing. The loved one is placed into the cremation container or casket. The paperwork authorizing the cremation is taken with the deceased to the crematorium, ensuring security of the remains.

When the retort has reached operating temperature, the mortician inserts the cremation container quickly, avoiding heat loss. The cremation process takes an average of two hours. During this time, most of the body is incinerated and the gases released through a special exhaust system. Following this process, the retort operator sweeps the remaining bone fragments into a container. The operator searches the container for pieces of metal that might have been missed such as tooth fillings, titanium hips, jewelry, etc. If a ceramic marker was used for the cremation, it is also separated from the fragments at this point.

The majority of the body mass is incinerated during cremation. The remaining bone fragments represent the larger bones like the pelvis. They are usually light gray in color and dried out as a result of the cremation. The fragments are placed into a grinder called a cremulator that crushes the fragments into remains. Remains are often referred to as ashes, but they have a consistency more like grainy sand.

The remains are placed into a labeled plastic bag, the operator signs paperwork verifying the identity of the remains, and the ashes are returned to the Funeral Director. If the family has purchased an urn, the remains are placed in the urn and sealed prior to the funeral or delivery to the family.

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