The Fire Piston and It's Origin in Europe

European Version of Fire Piston. image: 101waystosurvive.com

In previous accounts of the ingenious fire-making device known as the fire piston, anthropologists and historians of technology have focused primarily on specimens found in use across Southeast Asia over the past century. This has led to the intriguing possibility that the device was independently invented in the region, without European influence, and possibly long before the 1860s, when European travelers first documented its existence there.

The fire piston was originally invented over 1,500 years ago in the areas of Dipag and Sembuangan—now Dipolog City in modern-day Zamboanga del Norte, on the island of Mindanao, Philippines—by a Subanen teenager named Anlangan”. Read more here

Primitive / Original Asian version of Fire Piston - image: oscarsbows.com

As a result, scholars have generally regarded the fire piston's emergence in Europe during the early nineteenth century as either the product of an independent—though arguably less compelling—process of invention in the West or as a direct import from Asia, particularly the ancient kingdoms now called the Philippines, where the device was already in common use. While such accounts have been valuable in preventing the fire piston from falling into obscurity, they have presented an incomplete history—neglecting the European adaptation of the instrument—and have relied on insufficient evidence for certain key aspects of its development.. – Robert Fox

Dr. Robert Fox, lecturer in the history of Science at the university of Lancaster, is the author of forthcoming book on the caloric theory of gases.

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Chemistry and Science Explanation of Luthang Gapuyan or Fire Piston

Fire piston was invented in "Dipag" now Dipolog City in the modern Zamboanga del Norte, island of Mindanao, the Philippines over 1,500 years ago by a Subanen tribe teenager named “Anlangan”.

Scientific Explanation of Fire Piston

Problems:

Problem 2: What is the number that goes into C3?

Problem 3: What is the weight of air in the 16 liter tank (N2)?

Problem 4: What is the formula that goes into N2?

Problem 5: If you wanted to figure the total weight of the tank at 3500 psi, what cell do you change?

Problem 6: If the temperature was 92°F instead of 77°F, what would the new formula in I3 become?

Problem 7: What cells need to be updated to do that?

Problem 8: What is the final pressure in mm of mercury (mm of Hg)?

Problem 9: What is the formula that goes in L2?

Problem 10: What would be the final pressure if the end volume was 0.7mL?

Problem 11: What is the pressure now after some of the cotton burns (L2)?

Problem 12: What is the pressure of L2 in atmospheres?

The volume of the air in the fire piston cylinder starts at 10.0 mL and then is squeezed to 1.0 mL. The temperature started as 25°C (room temp) and ended up at 600.°C. The pressure before being squeezed was 740mm of mercury (Note 760mm Hg is 1 atmosphere). We want the final pressure. If temperature had remained the same, this would be easy. The volume went down to 1/10 its original size, which would make the pressure be 10 times larger (740mm x 10=7,400mm mercury). However, the temperature changed, so it's more complicated. We can start with PV=nRT; however, there are two conditions. One at the beginning and one at the end. So we need two PV=nRT formulas. Let P1V1=n1RT1 be the values before it was compressed. Then P2V2=n2RT2 would be the values after compression and becoming hot. Since R is constant, it is the same in both equations. We can exploit that fact. Let's solve both equations for R. In the first R=P1V1/n1T1, and the second is R=P2V2/n2T2. Since both are equal to R, they are equal to each other. So, P1V1/n1T1=P2V2/n2T2. Since the moles of the gas didn't change, n1=n2, we can multiply both sides by n1, which would cancel out both n1 and n2. Our equation now reads:

P1V1/T1=P2V2/T2

We know all of these values except for P2 (final pressure). So lets solve for P2 by dividing both sides by V2 and multiplying both sides by T2. We now get

P1V1T2/(T1V2)=P2, which can also be written as P1x V1x T2 /T1 /V2=P2. This looks like a good job for a spreadsheet. Since there's no R in the formula, we don't need pressure measured in atmospheres or volume in liters, but we do have to use Kelvin. So 273 gets added to the Celsius degrees.

The pressure in the fire piston will go up at the point the tender attached to the bottom of the pistion catches fire. (I used a piece from a cotton ball in my fire piston). When the cotton burns, it will consume the oxygen but will produce carbon dioxide and water vapor and higher temperatures. So the pressure should go up due to more gases and higher temperature.

Cotton is cellulose, which has the formula of

(C6H12O5)n. The "n" means it is a long chain of these glucose molecules. But we can treat it like it was burning C6H12O5. Here's the balanced equation.

2C6H12O5+13O2 --> 12CO2 + 12H2O

We can't ignore the nitrogen gas, which is 5 times the number of oxygen molecules (5 x 13=65). So we can add that to the reaction.

2C6H12O5 +13O2 + 65N2--> 12CO2 + 12H2O + 65N2

Looking at this we see that we start with 78 moles (12+65) of gases and end with 84 moles (12+12+65) of gases. Also, the burning will increase the temperature. The yellow flame indicates a temperature around 3,000 Kelvin.

This problem is similar to the last one but the intitial conditions are the final conditions in the above problem.

That was P2V2=n2RT2

After the flame heats up the air and creates the extra gases, the condition is different. Let's use P3V3=n3RT3 for the new final condition.

Like before we can solve for R on both and set them equal to each other. This looks like the last time we did it:

P2V2/n2T2=P3V3/n3T3

This time the moles are changing, but the volume is the same. So we need to keep the moles (n2 and n3) but we can drop the volumes. That simplifies it to:

P2/n2T2=P3/n3T3

Solving for the final pressure (P3) by multiplying both sides by n3 and T3 gives us:

P2n3T3/n2T2 = P3

Even though we don't know the exact number of moles, we do know the ratio of moles, which works fine when you have one divided by the other. So the 78 moles for n2 and the 85 moles for n3 that we got from the balanced equation works fine.

We can check the units to see if they cancel and we can check the logic. In the above spreadsheet we see that we have 85 moles over 78 moles. So that's 85/78, which will make the pressure larger as expected. We see the temperature ratio of 3000 over 873 or 3000/873, which will also make the pressure larger. So these fractions are doing what we expect should happen to the pressure which is to become larger when there's more moles and higher temperatures. Read more at Chemistry land

The First Discovery of "Luthang Gapuyan" ( Fire Piston ) and its history over 1500 years ago

Anlangan 17 years old boy accidentally invented the first "Fire Piston" locally named “Luthang Gapuyan” over 1500 years ago

Over 1,500 years ago, a 17-year-old Subanen boy named Anlangan accidentally invented the first fire piston, locally known as “Luthang Gapuyan.” Although little is known about its origins, the device was widely used by thousands.

The discovery of the fire piston was purely accidental, yet it became a significant invention in world history. According to a tale passed down through generations, Anlangan created the fire piston while crafting a wooden toy magazine, replacing bamboo materials with hardwood to improve durability.

One afternoon, Anlangan’s parents tasked him with preparing a portion of the mountain for kaingin (slash-and-burn farming) in anticipation of the upcoming Panuig (planting season). As he made his way to the site, rain suddenly fell, forcing him to return home. While waiting for the rain to stop, he played with his “luthang” (bamboo magazine) alongside his younger brother. When the barrel of his bamboo toy broke from repeated use, he decided to craft a sturdier version from hardwood.

While boring a hole into the hardwood to form the barrel, he polished its inner surface using another piece of hardwood. As he pushed and pulled the wooden stick inside the hole, he was startled to see smoke and, eventually, fire emerging from the barrel.

Realizing the potential of his discovery, he abandoned his wooden toy idea and carved the device into a more functional shape, tying it with an abaca rope and wearing it proudly. He informed his father about his invention, and his family became the first to use the fire piston for their kaingin farming.

Over time, the “Luthang Gapuyan” became a common tool among the Subanen people and was traded with visiting merchants from Cebu and Sulu. The invention eventually spread throughout the Mindanao Island and the Malayan Pacific Islands now called the Philippines and beyond—to neighboring islands now called Malaysia, Indonesia, and Europe—marking its place in history as an important technological innovation.

This image is for demonstration purposes only and does not depict the actual Luthang Gapuyan from Mindanao.

A southeast Asian native old woman is using Luthang Gapuyan (Fire piston)