When was the first air compressor invented

In B. This device was a hand-held and later foot-controlled flexible bag that produced a concentrated blast of air ideal for achieving higher temperature fires. Years later in , professional engineer John Smeaton designed a water wheel-driven blowing cylinder that slowly replaced the bellows.

Air compressors were used for more than just metalworking in those days; they were also used for mining and fabricating metals and providing ventilation to underground areas. During the construction of the Italy-France rail system, compressors were often used to move large air volumes into the 8-mile construction tunnel.

Soon after, people conceptualized more ways to utilize the technology. Railway managers decided to use a newly invented pneumatic rock drill to connect the two countries with an 8-mile The work began with manual drilling in , but a few years later engineers installed "wet" compressors which used water to cool air inside the cylinders on the French and Italian sides, and two teams drilled through the rock toward each other.

When they met, there were about 4 miles 7, meters behind each team, proving that compressed air could transmit energy over long distances. The Mt. Cenis tunnel attracted international publicity in newspaper and technical journals, and discussion turned to the possibility of a compressed air network that would provide energy to industries.

Austrian engineer Viktor Popp made it happen in Paris in , when he installed a 1, kW compressor plant that grew to 18, kW by As compressed air's availability grew, inventors bustled to improve on it. Patent officers issued patents on machines and tools from motors to clocks to beer dispensers.

The novelty of many services now available in Paris started a backlash against electricity by many engineers who saw compressed air as the energy distribution system of the future.

However, electricity advocates held strong to their belief that pneumatic plants were inefficient and would eventually be trumped by electricity. Advances in construction technology also made it easier for architectural firms to design straight, simple apartment buildings for low-income city dwellers.

With pneumatic jack hammers, drills and rivets, modernist story tenements were erected quickly and cheaply throughout North America. Stadiums and Arenas. Stadiums have become more commonplace in large and mid-sized cities as professional sports teams and top-drawing entertainment attractions make it possible to fill 10,plus seats.

From the traditional stadiums that have stood for decades to the recently built hi-tech arenas, compressed air tools and machines have been responsible for most of the construction and interior work.

Public monuments. These days, just about every city has its own unique monument that serves as a visual focal point in postcards. While the evolution was swift, it would be hard to imagine such progress being made without the key role compressed air plays in the construction of aircraft: War.

From WWI onward, aircraft have played an integral role in military operations. At manufacturing plants, everything from the engine and cockpit to the wings and wheels are cut, molded, riveted, bolted and painted with air-powered tools.

Within just a few short decades from the first transatlantic crossing by plane, commercial air travel had become big business on a global scale, which is quite amazing given the altitudes involved. Yet despite taking passengers tens of thousands of feet above the ground, air flight remains the safest way to travel. As people from all walks of life seek flights both cross-country and overseas, others do work that involves quick hops over cities and from town to town.

Since the rise of commercial air travel, the airport has become a world unto its own where people eat, buy souvenirs and wait for departing or returning flights. In terms of layout, airports are lavish facilities that take tremendous designer ingenuity and manpower to build.

Thankfully, the modern-day air compressor was developed in time to help build the airport industry from the ground up. Operations are also dependent on compressed air to maintain daily flights worldwide. Thanks to the power of compressed-air arsenals, the following developments have swiftly spread over the past seven decades across lands that were once barren and desolate: Suburban neighborhoods.

As with inner-city buildings, neighborhood homes are largely built with pneumatic drills, nailers, sanders and sprayers. Suburban development could never be as fast or efficient without tools and machinery powered by compressed air. Schools and recreational facilities.

With air-powered tools and accessories, construction crews have broken ground at new sites and erected schools and facilities in just a fraction of the time it used to take to build such places through other means. Best of all, pneumatically built schools and buildings are proving to be more durable than their counterparts from a century earlier.

Shopping malls. As suburbia spread, residents had less urge to drive into town for the purposes of shopping, dining and entertainment. By popular demand, construction crews were given new projects that involved taking the pneumatic tools and machines used in recent urban constructions for duplicates of those same amenities — hence the spread of suburban shopping malls, restaurants and movie theaters.

Home Furnishings, Appliances and Electronics Compressed air has formed the backbone of production in most areas of modern life. From the furniture that people use for dining, leisure and rest, to the items that people watch and engage with for entertainment and communication, air compressors are responsible for everything from the molding of parts to the assembly of products: Tables, shelves and sofas.

When people imagine furniture construction, they often think of strenuous manual work. Stoves, refrigerators and washing machines. If ever such a machine existed, it would be the air compressor. Its invention was as inevitable as the discovery of pi. Largely, this is because we have our very own air compressors built into our bodies — our lungs. Prehistoric humans may not have known the exact mechanics of what was happening in their chest cavities — specifically, their diaphragms pressing upward on the lungs and creating pressure — but they understood the results.

Around B. To obtain the high temperatures required to melt metal, one needed a steady stream of oxygen to blow onto the fire. They somehow scraped along with rudimentary means until the invention of bellows in around B. Bellows went through different iterations, but they are most commonly made of a flexible bag placed between two inflexible boards. Typically, these two boards are hinged together at one end, and they are then pumped together and apart to create alternating high and low pressure inside the bag.

The result, of course, is a steady stream of air out the nozzle. Bellows were superior to the human lung in several ways.

First, the amount of pressure they could create was much higher than the lung , which at its peak can produce less than a tenth of a bar. Secondly, bellows could blow pure air, whereas lungs always blew a certain amount of carbon dioxide — a fire retardant.

And finally, one is far less winded after operating a set of bellows than blowing on a fire repeatedly. While small refinements were made here and there, the basic design of the bellows persisted unchanged for a staggering three millennia. It is worth noting, of course, that our fondness for bellows has not disappeared — they can still be found by fireplaces, in musical pump organs and many other devices.

As you might have guessed, it was the Industrial Revolution that saw the rethinking of bellows. In , the inventor John Smeaton found a way to rig a water wheel to power a blowing cylinder. Smeaton enjoyed a brief run of success with his invention — but as is the case with revolutions, more change was soon to come. It was this hydraulic blowing machine that became the inspiration for modern air compressors.

It was no surprise that the idea caught on, as during this period air compression was making its way to many different industries. In , a rail system was installed between Italy and France that bore an eight-mile tunnel full of workers.

Because oxygen can quickly get used up in such environments, air compressors were responsible for moving air into the tunnel. Half a century earlier was when air compressors appeared as more than just a way to move air — it also dawned on people they could transport energy. A plant in Wales used compressed air to power its workings in the s.

This gave rise to the idea that this might be even more effective than steam power, which was the height of technology of the day. The very same rail tunnel that used air compressors for ventilation also used them for power. This came in the form of pneumatic drills, which both the French and Italian teams used to blast through rock inside the tunnel.

Also known as a jackhammer, a pneumatic drill uses compressed air to power the up and down motion of its hammer. A bit of a historical hiccup was occurring around this time.

As compressed air grew in popularity, it created such a fervor that many believed it to be a way of the future. People in Paris thought it would replace electricity powering their city and others around the globe. In , the engineer Viktor Popp — an unpromising name for a man specializing in high-pressure air systems — introduced the first compressor plant to Europe. This plant went from producing kW to 12 times that amount just three years later. At that time, it seemed compressed air was heading toward a very different kind of future.

As debates over whether compressed air would render electricity obsolete in Europe raged in Paris, the entire world seemed to be gearing up for its adoption.