The term blowpipe refers to one of several tools used to direct streams of gases into any of several working media.

Blowpipes for torches

If a stream or jet of air is directed through a flame, fuel air mixing is enhanced and the jet exiting the flame is intensely hot.

Jeweler A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmith, Goldsmith, stone setting, engraving, fabrica ...

s and glassblowers engaged in

lampwork Lampworking is a type of glasswork in which a torch or lamp is used to melt the glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with tools and hand movements. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking, as the moder ...

have used the blowpipe since ancient times, with the blast being powered by the user's

lung The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of t ...

s. For small work, a mouth-blown blowpipe may be used with a candle flame or an alcohol lamp, with established techniques for applying

oxidizing and reducing flames In pyrology, flames are affected by the fuel introduced and the oxygen available. A flame with a good oxygen-fuel ratio is called a neutral flame. The color of the flame is semi-transparent purple or blue. This flame is optimal for all intentions, ...

to the workpiece or specimen. Starting in the late 18th Century, blowpipes have been powered by mechanisms, initially bladders and bellows, but now blowers, compressors and compressed gas cylinders are commonplace. While blowing air is effective, blowing oxygen produces higher temperatures, and it is also practical to invert the roles of the gasses and blow fuel through air. Contemporary

blowtorch A blowtorch, also referred to as a blowlamp, is an ambient air fuel-burning gas lamp used for applying flame and heat to various applications, usually metalworking. Early blowtorches used liquid fuel, carried in a refillable reservoir attach ...

es and

oxy-fuel welding and cutting Principle of burn cutting Oxy-fuel welding (commonly called oxyacetylene welding, oxy welding, or gas welding in the United States) and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases (or liquid fuels such as gasoline or petrol, diesel, ...

torches can be considered to be modern developments of the blowpipe. Kit for blowpipe analysis Carl Osterland, Freiberg, c

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and mineralogy blowpipes have been used as scientific instruments for the analysis of small samples since about 1738, according to the accounts of

Torbern Bergman Torbern Olaf (Olof) Bergman (''KVO'') (20 March 17358 July 1784) was a Swedish chemist and mineralogist noted for his 1775 ''Dissertation on Elective Attractions'', containing the largest chemical affinity tables ever published. Bergman was the ...

. One Andreas Swab, a Swedish metallurgist and Counsellor of the College of Mines is credited with the first use of the blowpipe for 'pyrognostic operations', of which no record remains. The next person of eminence who used the blowpipe was

Axel Fredrik Cronstedt Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt (''/kroonstet/'' 23 December 1722 – 19 August 1765) was a Swedish mineralogist and chemist who discovered the element nickel in 1751 as a mining expert with the Bureau of Mines. Cronstedt is considered a founder ...

, who put it to the purpose of the discrimination of minerals by means of fusible reagents. In 1770 an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

translation of Cronstedt's work was made by Von Engestrom, annexed to which was a treatise on the blowpipe. Despite this opening, assay by blowpipe was for the time an occupation undertaken for the most part in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Bergman's use of the blowpipe outstripped all of his predecessors, and he widened its application from mineralogy to inorganic chemistry, giving rise to what may be regarded as a masterpiece of philosophical investigation, ''De Tubo Ferruminatorio'', published in Vienna in 1779 (and translated into English in 1788). Bergman's assistant,

Johan Gottlieb Gahn Johan Gottlieb Gahn (19 August 1745 – 8 December 1818) was a Swedish chemist and metallurgist who isolated manganese in 1774. Gahn studied in Uppsala 1762 – 1770 and became acquainted with chemists Torbern Bergman and Carl Wilhelm Scheele. 177 ...

, is credited with improving the design and application of the blowpipe. Gahn travelled with a portable blowpipe, applying it to every kind of chemical and mineralogical enquiry, such as proving the presence of copper in the ashes of vegetables. Gahn published a ''Treatise on the Blowpipe'', which was reprinted a number of times in contemporary chemistry textbooks.

Jöns Jakob Berzelius Jöns is a Swedish given name and a surname. Notable people with the given name include: * Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848), Swedish chemist * Jöns Budde (1435–1495), Franciscan friar from the Brigittine monastery in NaantaliVallis Grati ...

worked with Gahn to ascertain in a systematic manner of the phenomena presented by different minerals when acted on by the blowpipe. He established, according to Griffin, the notion that the blowpipe was an instrument of ''indispensable utility'', and his published work, later translated into English, was regarded as one of the most useful books on practical chemistry extant. The blowpipes of all of the foregoing blasted air into a flame. The blow pipe was used by the Egyptians at around 200 BCE and to today.

Antoine Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

- of which he was co-discoverer - through a blowpipe to support the combustion of charcoal, in 1782. Others, such as

Edward Daniel Clarke Edward Daniel Clarke (5 June 17699 March 1822) was an English clergyman, naturalist, mineralogist, and traveller. Life Edward Daniel Clarke was born at Willingdon, Sussex, and educated first at Uckfield School"Anthony Saunders, D.D." in Ma ...

, employed

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...

, and later mixed hydrogen and oxygen in the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe. The vastly increased temperatures, and the volatility of hydrogen-oxygen mixes drove on the development of the so-called gas blowpipe as a tool, and at the same time brought many new materials into reach of the blowpipe as a tool for assay. Robert Hare was a noted exponent of the improved tool.

Goldsworthy Gurney Sir Goldsworthy Gurney (14 February 1793 – 28 February 1875) was an English surgeon, chemist, architect, builder, lecturer and consultant. He was a prototypical British gentleman scientist and inventor of the Victorian era. Amongst many acc ...

, whilst at the Surrey Institute, published in 1823 an account of a new blowpipe so constructed as to enable the operator to produce a flame of great size, power and brilliancy by burning large quantities of the mixed gases with the utmost safety. Gurney went on to employ the principles in his

Bude light A Bude-Light was a very bright oil lamp (later, in its modified form, a gas lamp) invented by Goldsworthy Gurney, Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, patented by him on 8 June 1839 and named after Bude, Cornwall, where he lived. History Lighthouse experimen ...

Blowpipes in glassblowing

glassblowing Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a Blowpipe (tool), blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer'' ...

, the term ''blowpipe'' refers to a pipe used to blow a bubble of air into a gather of molten glass, as the first step in the creation of hand-blown glass bottles and bowls. By the end of the first century, the two primary glassblowing tools were the iron blowpipe and

pontil Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer''. A '' lampworke ...

. Glassblowing blowpipes are long enough to keep the gather of molten glass at a safe distance from the glassblower and rigid enough to support the weight of the glass when the pipe is held horizontally.

Blowpipes in ironmaking

The term blowpipe is also used to refer to the pipe used to blow deliver air to the

tuyere A tuyere or tuyère (; ) is a tube, nozzle or pipe through which air is blown into a furnace or hearth.W. K. V. Gale, The iron and Steel industry: a dictionary of terms (David and Charles, Newton Abbot 1972), 216–217. Air or oxygen is in ...

s of a

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...

or blast furnace.Amit Chatterjee, et al
Metallics for Steelmaking -- Production and Use
Allied Publishers, 2001. See page 82. The blowpipe of a forge may be considered to be a large

bellows A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...

operated version of a mouth-blown blowpipe, directing air through a

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

or charcoal flame.

Blowpipes for fireplaces or outdoor fires

Blowpipes are also known as blow pokers (or just blow pokes). They are used to start and stoke fires. Blowpipes are straight, tube-like tools primarily used to direct oxygen to boost a wooden fire. Blowpipes have been in use for hundreds of years, but were first documented by John Griffin in his 1827 book ''A Practical Treatise on the Use of the Blowpipe''. Blow pokers are multifunctional fire irons. Primarily they are used to arrange the embers or firewood in a wood fire (the poker), secondarily they are used as a blow pipe. The term "BlowPoker" was introduced in 2005 by the German company Red Anvil GmbH, a manufacturer of fire irons and fireside accessories. Their BlowPoker also has a plate to arrange the ashes. Since 2005 the term blow poker has established itself in the trade as a generic term for a multifunctional poker tool.

References

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