Bellows

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A large bellows creates a mushroom cloud at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California.

For the writer, see Saul Bellow. For the military reservation in Hawaii, see Bellows Air Force Station.

A bellows is a device for delivering pressured air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location. At its most simple terms, a bellows is a container which is deformable in such a way as to alter its volume, and has an outlet or outlets where one wishes to blow air. A bellows differs from a fan in that it exerts much greater control in where it delivers the air.

The bellows can also refer to a length or direction adjustable tubular element; in collapsible devices or applications that require as good sealing as possible, or that cannot accommodate other methods of achieving those aims.

Metallurgical processes

Several metallurgical processes require so much heat that they could only be developed after the invention of the bellows.

There are various kinds of bellows used. In Asia, box bellows were and are traditionally used (1). In ancient Egypt, pot bellows (2) were used. In the European tradition, accordion bellows are the standardard type (3), thought the piston bellows developed in the middle fo the 18th century replaced them in many industrial settings (4). There are also bag bellows.

Musical instrument

In musical instruments, such as the reed organ, the bellows is often employed as a substitute or regulator for air pressure provided by the human lungs.

Photographic bellows

The bellows is the pleated expansible part that rides on an optical bench in a large- or medium format film camera. The bellows provides a flexible dark enclosure between the film plate and the lens plate. This way you can change the angle the light hits the film providing a way to correct for vanishing points and perspective. There are 2 common kinds of bellows: Bag bellows, which are for when the focal length is lower than an accordion bellows', and accordion bellows which can extend farther than bag bellows.

References

1. http://www.anvilfire.com/FAQs/archives/g072002d.htm .2. http://www.archaeogate.org/egittologia/article/182/8/mersa-gawasis-red-sea-egypt-unoisiao-and-bu-2003-2004-f.html .3. [ref. needed ]4. http://www.davistownmuseum.org/TDMtoolGlossary.htm

See also

• sylphon for uses of metal bellows in experimental physics and engineering.
• http://www.wwmag.net/blacksmith.htm for bellows used in primitive blacksmithing.
• http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Bellows for a genearl discussion of bellows in metal work.

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