SC - Copyright of Recipes

[Delaurus@geocities.com]

One of the oldest bellows that I have seen is a "Bag" bellows:
A largish sack of leather shaped a lot like a rectangular handbag, with
two rods instead of a clasp affair at the top and a tube to the fire.
Lay it down, grab the rods in both hands, and pull them apart, lift them
up and close them to capture air, then push the rods down to express the
air from the bag, then repeat the cycle.
Very simple, no valves needed. 
I have seen examples similar to this in reconstructions of Bronze Age
sites. 
Keep in mind that this was used in the early and middle Bronze Age, not
the Medieval Period. And, because there is little efficiency,  the
technique required a lot of relatively rapid pumping to fire the
charcoal to the temperature needed to reduce and smelt tin and copper
ores. 
IMHO, Regarding materials for making a bellows for cooking, while it
would be nice to have "airtight" leather and joinery, I doubt that it is
needed,  because even if there is 50% of leakage of air, still that 50 %
delivered is enough to stoke the fire.  I think that with lower
temperature smelting of metals, as well, efficiency is nice, but not
necessary. 

	<snip>
> Actually I believe it is a little more complex than this. I have been
> doing some looking into bellows since I would like to create one for
> the pewter casting I do. Even in the simpler ones, you will want a
> one way valve, which can easily be done with leather. 
That depends entirely on how you input the air. True, if the bellows
were to use a pump type of arrangement, like you see in modern bellows,
then you are right, but if you use a scoop type of air capture, like
above, then this is not true.
If you are using the "pump" type, then use at least two valves, one at
input, to prevent captured air escaping out the intake, and one at the
outlet, to prevent the bellows from drawing in hot air and smoke from
the fire.


> The more
> sophisticated bellows had two chambers. One was emptying while the
> other was filling. This gives a continuous blast of air. However, this
> may be less important for cooking fires. 
	<Snip>
Multichambered bellows used a barrier between partitions with another
valve, and depended on a steady pressure, usually by applying weights,
to make a steady stream. Examples of this can still be seen in various
reconstructions of old Blacksmiths shops all over the US.

Brandu

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