51/508

Fire blowers developed from the kitchen bellows in the early-nineteenth century. This is an early type of fire blower, for getting more oxygen into the fire to make it burn better. It consists of a round metal drum inside which a wheel with floats attached revolves to produce a draught. The wheel would be turned by a handle, which is now missing.

1 fire blower: metal; fair condition: there is no handle or method of supporting it, and no device for turning the floats

MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'This is an example of an early type of fire blower, probably in use before the type illustrated in 51/510 L. The principle is the same in both cases – a wheel with floats attached to it, revolves inside a metal drum. // This specimen is defective in that it has no handle or method of supporting it, and no device for turning the floats. It consists of a round metal drum with wooden ends, drawn out to a point at the front and a metal nozzle welded to the end. The drum is 7.5 inches in diameter and 6.25 inches in width. There are holes in the wooden ends and pieces of metal are nailed across these holds to hold the float mechanism in place. One of these pieces of metal is a piece of an old clock face.', Lavinia Smith No. 174., Lavinia Smith Catalogue (D60/28) - 'A list of the contents of the East Hendred museum. July 5 1940 // Heating and Cooking // 174. An imperfect example of an earlier form of the same sort of blower. It is partly made of the face of an old one-handed [sic] clock and it ought to have some way of revolving the wheel rapidly.' (This record in Smith's catalogue is crossed out in pencil) (See also 51/510)

Metal, Wood

Rippon, Miss Dorothy May Lyddon (Agent)