Category:Blowpipe

Blow"pipe` (, n.

1. A tube for directing a jet of air into a fire or into the flame of a lamp or candle, so as to concentrate the heat on some object.

Note: It is called a mouth blowpipe when used with the mouth; but for both chemical and industrial purposes, it is often worked by a bellows or other contrivance. The common mouth blowpipe is a tapering tube with a very small orifice at the end to be inserted in the flame. The oxyhydrogen blowpipe, invented by Dr. Hare in 1801, is an instrument in which oxygen and hydrogen, taken from separate reservoirs, in the proportions of two volumes of hydrogen to one of oxygen, are burned in a jet, under pressure. It gives a heat that will consume the diamond, fuse platinum, and dissipate in vapor, or in gaseous forms, most known substances.

2. A blowgun; a blowtube. Blowpipe analysis (Chem.), analysis by means of the blowpipe. -- Blowpipe reaction (Chem.), the characteristic behavior of a substance subjected to a test by means of the blowpipe.