Since the industrial revolution, we have continually looked to find solutions to every day problems. One of the very interesting problems has always been how to take the air that we breath, and that surrounds us day to day.
As far back as the Vikings with their rudimentary bellows so that they could forge iron, man has tried to harness better ways of compressing air so that it could be used for useful purposes.
In 1939 the United States Navy brought out the SCUBA system, compressed air for Navy divers to breath while under water, and since that day inventors have steadily moved the methods of using air in compressed form in a myriad of ways.
One of the greatest reasons for the huge attempt to move forward with this function was the bicycle followed by the motor vehicle. In 1888 John Dunlop invented the air filled or pneumatic tire for bicycles.
It was not until 1911 when Philip Strauss invented the first successful combination tire with an air filled inner tube. From that day while we have gone from strength to strength with the ability to compress air to inflate not just bike and car tires, but a whole range of popular life style accessories including blow up beds, swimming pool accessories just to name a few.
In today’s modern world, and with the input of many inventors and large companies, we can now have compressed air at will. Not only that, we can now harness the suns power to actually generate the energy required to work an air compressor.
This technology has now been taken one step further, meaning that in Australia, you can now purchase a solar powered 12v air compressor that will stay charged when not in use, and has enough power to inflate the wheels of the family car or small truck.
Looking back to the early efforts of the Vikings, you can see that as a society, we have come a long way from the initial bellows that were made to push air onto hot metal to assist in it’s shaping and form.