The wooden bellows was a traditional Chinese device used in both metalworking and cooking, a double-acting pis…
The wooden bellows was a traditional Chinese device used in both metalworking and cooking, a double-acting piston blower made of a wooden chamber, piston, valves, and a push-pull handle. As the piston moved back and forth by hand, it maintained a continuous draft by means of air-pressure differentials. According to Divinecraft, the technology was already highly developed by the Ming dynasty, while murals at the Yulin Caves show that it was in practical use as early as the Song. Compared with similar devices in Europe, which did not appear until the eighteenth century, the Chinese wooden bellows was remarkably advanced in both mechanical design and smelting efficiency.