What Is a Blacksmith's Bellows?
One of the most important tools in a blacksmith's workshop is the bellows. Without it, the ability to manipulate and craft iron objects is nearly impossible. Understanding the components and, more importantly, the function of a blacksmith's bellows will help you understand the complex but important job of a blacksmith.
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Function
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Before the invention of the bellows, early iron smiths (also called blacksmiths) had their apprentices blow through hollow tubes into the base of the fire. Unfortunately, such a method was not useful for the proper production of iron and so new methods were sought. The classic medieval bellows was a device made from wood and leather and was worked in order to push air into the fire of a furnace which would allow the furnace to reach a high enough temperature to make iron melt and to strengthen it through the addition of carbon.
The construction of bellows started with two wooden paddles, one with a hole cut in the center. The paddles were connected by a hinge at their heads (opposite the handle part of the paddle) and a leather flap that only opened one way was secured to the hole in one of the paddles. A leather bag (or sometimes cloth) was secured between the two paddles and a nozzle set at the head. The result was a primitive blacksmith bellows. The air would come in through the hole in one of the paddles when the bellows' handles were pulled away from each other. When pushed toward each other, the air would shoot out the nozzle, stoking the furnace's fire.
Significance
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The invention of the bellows was significant for several reasons. First, human lungs consumed much of the oxygen that was taken in them, so the exhalation contained a lot of carbon dioxide, which did not help the fire create enough heat to melt iron. The bellows, on the other hand, exhaled as much oxygen as it took in and so fed the fire with more oxygen than human lungs could. Second, heavy breathing would quickly make apprentices dizzy from hyperventilation and could result in them passing out (and possibly falling into the fire). Bellows reduced the risk of the apprentice passing out. Finally, a bellows allowed the blacksmith to control the temperature of the fire better than blowing could; if the fire needed to be hotter, the apprentice worked more, and if the fire needed to cool, the apprentice worked less.
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Geography
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There were different approached to the use of bellows, or devices that acted as bellows, that varied from country to country. In China, apprentices waved fans at one end of a clay pipe to feed the furnace fire at the other end of the clay pipe. In India, the so-called "Wootz" steel was fed by monsoon winds blowing through clay pipes and stoked the fires of the iron forges enough to produce some of the highest-quality iron implements. Large bellows were used in the industrial revolution in Europe, but instead of being powered by human apprentices, they were powered by steam engines.
Effects
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Iron, even wrought iron, is a relatively soft metal, and during the early Iron Age, bronze weapons were tougher, held an edge longer and were dominant in warfare. The advent of bellows allowed early iron workers to discover an important chemical reaction that made iron tougher. Hot fires, especially from charcoal, produce carbon in the form of soot. Carbon atoms would interact with the iron and form an early version of carbonized steel. The result was an outer case or skin of steel around the softer iron core. Hammering the iron item allowed it to be flattened out and literally folded over into itself; like kneading dough. The iron implement was placed into the fire again where more iron interacted with more carbon. Eventually, the product was a steel weapon that was stronger, harder and cheaper than bronze. Without the bellows and its kin, there might not have been an Iron Age.
Expert Insight
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Blacksmithing was a common occupation for much of human history. The Iron Age started around 1200 B.C. and blacksmiths were gainfully employed until well into the twentieth century. Even early automobiles had their components created by blacksmiths and their tried-and-true bellows techniques. In Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," the protagonist applies late nineteenth century manufacturing techniques to medieval-era blacksmithing techniques and employed advanced bellows techniques to create steel implements that were superior to the iron implements used by the enemy.
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