How were mines ventilated before electric pumps and fans were invented?
In: Engineering
They usually weren’t and used birds mostly Canary’s as a way of showing oxygen levels. I.e. when the bird keeled over you should probably get out.
There were a few different techniques. Clever designs of ventilation shafts could get the air to move from a slight wind and the heat of the ground. Sometimes they would have a fire burning in the mine with a proper chimney that would draw fresh air into the mine. They did also have bellows and fans to blow air into the mine. These bellows could be powered by humans, donkeys, wind or water.
Other than having holes leading to the surface: they weren’t. Working in the mines was pretty horrible and risky which is why it was often done by slaves and used as a punishment.
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Re. Fans: The very first use of the steam engine was to pump water out of mines. It wouldn’t take much additional engineering to power a wooden paddlewheel fan or a bellows mechanism.
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