Rangaku - Types of Rangaku - Mechanical Sciences - Pumps

Pumps

Air pump mechanisms became popular in Europe from around 1660 following the experiments of Boyle. In Japan, the first description of a vacuum pump appear in Aoji Rinsō’s 1825 Atmospheric Observations (気海観瀾, Kikai Kanran?), and slightly later both pressure pumps and void pumps appear in Udagawa Shinsai’s 1834 Appendix of Far-Western Medical and Notable Things and Thoughts (遠西医方名物考補遺, Ensei Ihō Meibutsu Kō Hoi?). These mechanisms were used to demonstrate the necessity of air for animal life and combustion, typically by putting a lamp or a small pump in a vacuum, and were also used to make calculations of pressure and air density.

Many practical applications were found as well, such as in the manufacture of air guns by Kunitomo Ikkansai, after he repaired and analyzed the mechanism of some Dutch air guns which had been offered to the Shogun in Edo. A rather vast industry of perpetual oil lamps (無尽灯, Mujin Hi?) also developed, also derived by Kunitomo from the mechanism of air guns, in which oil was continuously supplied through a compressed air mechanism. Kunitomo also developed agricultural applications of these technologies, such as a giant pump powered by an ox, to lift irrigation water.

• Kuni­to­mo’s “As­pi­ra­tion pump driven by an ox” (1810 ad­ver­tise­ment).

• Air gun trigger mech­anism.