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 airtight cavity which can be expanded and contracted by operating the handles, and fitted with a valve allowing air to fill the cavity when expanded, and with a tube through which the air is forced out in a stream when the cavity is compressed. It has many applications, in particular blowing on a fire to supply it with air.
Hand-made English fireplace bellows
A preserved baker's bellows at Deutsches Werkzeugmuseum (German Tools Museum) at Remscheid.
Old bellows used on goldfield near Milparinka, N.S.W., Australia. 1976.
Pot bellows (excavation)
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Gold smelting workers in Siuna, Nicaragua in the late 20th century
Casting, the process of pouring molten metal into a mold
Artefacts from the Varna Necropolis in present-day Bulgaria
Iron, the most common metal used in metallurgy, is shown in different forms, including cubes, chips, and nuggets
