Glossary
Examples of 17th Century Bellows
[Also spelt in Dorchester/Fordington Inventories as bellowes, billows, billowes]
which expands to draw in air through an inward opening valve and contracts to expel the air through a nozzle.
The bellows was invented in the European Middle Ages and if included in a household inventory would have been used to speed combustion when cooking.
17th & 19th Century Bellows