• About
  • Gallery
    • Gallery of the 1924 painted dome icons
  • Interviews
    • Interviews with scientists about science since 1924
  • App
  • Contact
  • Credits
  • ABACUS
  • ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES, PARIS
  • ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI, ROME
  • AIR
  • AIR PUMP
  • ANTHROPOLOGY
  • ANTIQUE RETORT
  • ASTRONOMY
  • BELLOWS
  • BOTANY
  • CANDLE
  • CHEMISTRY
  • MAGNETIC COMPASS
  • DAGUERRE'S CAMERA
  • EARTH
  • FIRE
  • GALILEO'S TELESCOPE
  • GAS, LIQUID AND ICE
  • GEOLOGY
  • GEOLOGIC HAMMER AND CHISEL
  • INNER INSCRIPTION
  • KILN
  • LAVOISIER'S FLASK TO WEIGH AIR
  • LEVEL WITH PENDULUM BOB
  • ELECTRO-MAGNET
  • MATHEMATICS
  • MODERN MAN
  • MUSEUM OF ALEXANDRIA
  • NEWTON'S PRISM
  • OUTER INSCRIPTION
  • PEA PODS
  • PHAROS
  • PHYSICS
  • PLANET & STARS
  • EARTH (B)
  • JUPITER
  • MARS
  • MERCURY
  • NEPTUNE
  • SATURN
  • URANUS
  • VENUS
  • PLOWSHARE
  • PREHISTORIC MAN
  • PROMETHEUS
  • PYRAMID
  • PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM
  • SAILBOAT
  • SEXTANT
  • STARFISH
  • SUNFLOWER
  • TEAPOT
  • TEST TUBE
  • THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON
  • TRILOBITE FOSSIL
  • VOLTA'S BATTERY
  • WATER
  • WATER WHEEL
  • WATT'S STEAM ENGINE
  • WELL
  • WINDMILL
  • ZEBRA
  • ZOOLOGY

BELLOWS

An invention that moves and regulates the flow of air

Invented in antiquity, early processes of metalwork such as smelting and rudimentary welding were made possible by the bellows. Such endeavors required intense heat, and bellows provided additional air to enhance the modest heat of the forge. Bellows also powered musical instruments, such as reed or pipe organs. Compression of air using bellows produced heat, and its expansive rarefaction produced cold. Experience with bellows in common fireplaces led to refined and improved alchemical forges. Problems with the soft iron rails of early railroads and the boilers and cylinders of steam engines encouraged experimentation with higher smelting temperatures and refined metallurgy. Andrew Carnegie brought the so-called Bessemer process to the United States, where injection of superheated air and trace metals at just the right time resulted in high-strength steel. Similarly, continuously operating bellows were applied to musical instruments to produce the grand and sublime experiences of massive church organs.