blowing machines
Introduction
A blowing machine or industrial blower is an air pumping system that consists of a reciprocating compressor driven by an engine (initially it used to be a stationary steam engine, and later internal combustion engines were used), to which it is directly coupled. They were used to generate large flows of air, at a pressure lower than that of an air compressor but higher than that of a centrifugal fan.
They were mainly used to generate air jets used in different types of furnaces, especially blast furnaces, and in other foundry processes "Casting (metallurgy)").
Hydraulic Drive Blowers
The first blowing engines were the blow houses"), in which one or several bellows "Bellows (pneumatic)") were driven by water wheels.
The smelters are usually located near the origin of the minerals "Ore (mining)") used, and could not always have usable hydraulic energy in the immediate vicinity. There was also the risk that drought would reduce water supplies or that kiln demand would increase and exceed available hydro generation capacity.
These restrictions led to the earliest form of steam engine used to generate power, the water return engine. "With this system, a pump driven by a steam engine was used to raise water, which in turn drove a water wheel that moved the machinery. The pump then raised the water again to drive the wheel again. These early steam engines were only suitable for pumping water, and could not be connected directly to the machinery due to the irregularity of their movement.
The first practical examples of these engines were installed in 1742 in Coalbrookdale, and in 1765 this same system was chosen to reinforce production at the Carron Ironworks, located next to the River Clyde.[1].
Blowers with rocker steam machines
The first steam engines were rocker engines, initially of the non-rotating type (i.e., reciprocating only) and later of the rotary type (i.e., driving a flywheel). Both classes of machines were used as blower motors, usually attached to a cylinder to pump air. Joshua Field&action=edit&redlink=1 "Joshua Field (engineer) (not yet written)"), in his description of a visit in 1821 to Foster, Rastrick & Co. of Stourbridge,[2] comments that he observed eight large rocker engines, with one of 30 hp working with a blower cylinder 5 feet in diameter and 6 feet in stroke.