Tuyau
Encyclopedia
A tuyau is an ancient invention for producing cool, dry compressed air
Compressed air
Compressed air is air which is kept under a certain pressure, usually greater than that of the atmosphere. In Europe, 10 percent of all electricity used by industry is used to produce compressed air, amounting to 80 terawatt hours consumption per year....

 from a flow of water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

. It is a remarkable device because it can produce almost any degree of compression, given deep enough water, and has no moving parts or seals to wear.

A pipe is constructed. One end of the pipe points upstream, to capture a flow of water. As the water enters the pipe, nozzles entrain
Entrainment (engineering)
Entrainment as commonly used in various branches of engineering may be defined as the entrapment of one substance by another substance. For example:* The entrapment of liquid droplets or solid particulates in a flowing gas, as with smoke....

 bubbles in the water. The pipe then goes down. As the hydrostatic pressure increases, the air in the bubbles is compressed. The bubbles shrink. At the bottom, the pipe turns up a bit to a plenum chamber
Plenum chamber
A plenum chamber is a pressurised housing containing a gas or fluid at positive pressure . One function of the plenum can be to equalise pressure for more even distribution, because of irregular supply or demand...

. It then flows sideways. The compressed bubbles rise to the plenum and pop. The pipe then turns down, emptied of air bubbles. It conveys the spent water back up to the surface to discharge the water.

A small pipe from the plenum can be used to direct the compressed air to any use.

Reportedly, tuyaus were used in place of bellows to feed Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

-working forge
Forge
A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...

s. Often the same forges had hammers powered by water-works.
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