What if fire piston technology more widespread ?

THE FIRE PISTON: ANCIENT FIRE MAKING MACHINE

How does it work?
Air gets very hot when it is compressed under high pressure. A classic example would be the heat that is created when one uses a bicycle pump. But when the air is compressed in a firepiston it is done so quickly and efficiently that it can reach a temperature in excess of 800 degrees Fahrenheit. This is hot enough to ignite the tinder that is placed in the end of the piston which has been hollowed out to accept it.

Ancient examples of the tube itself are of hardwood, bamboo, or even horn. It is closed on one end, very smooth inside and accurately bored. Equal care is taken in the creation of the associated piston. A "gasket" of wound thread, fiber, or sometimes leather insures a proper seal for successfully creating the compression. This gasket is "greased" to help with the seal and to allow free travel of the piston. Those pacific natives I told you about earlier believed that the firepiston wouldn't work unless it was greased with dog fat. The natives of the Philippines say to use the grease of a wild pig from the jungle. But if you don't have time for a wild pig hunt, or the money to lipo-suction Fido , shortening has been shown to work. You might also want to try a combination of bacon fat mixed with a little candle wax, which is what outdoorsman John Rowlands used on his firepiston.
An article by Richard Jamison in a 1994 issue of Woodsmoke contains a nice description of how to operate a firepiston:

"...the cylinder is held firmly in the fist of the left hand: a small piece of tinder...is placed in a cavity on the point of the piston, which is just entered into the mouth of the bore; with a sudden stroke of the right hand the piston is forced up the bore, from which it rebounds slightly back with the elasticity of the compressed air, and on being plucked out, which it must be instantly, the tinder is found to be lighted."

As you can probably see, this ancient firemaking machine is utilizing the Diesel principle.

History

By 1865 European explorers had reached the jungles of Indonesia where they found firepiston use well established and widespread. Areas of distribution included Burma, the Malay Peninsula, French Indo-China and Borneo. From some of these areas it made its way to the East Island Archipelagos and the Philippines.
One thing I'd often pondered was the discovery by essentially stone-age people of a technology with such meticulous conditions for successful operation. I finally decided that it could have been an accidental discovery somehow connected to blow gun manufacture. The Woodsmoke article came to the same conclusion adding that perhaps during the process of boring or gauging them, there may have been compression of air that ignited material in the bore or perhaps on the rod. Reference was also made to the fact that oriental blow guns often occur in the same areas where the firepiston is found.
In addition, speculation was made that perhaps when making blow guns of bamboo they would use a rod to pop out the nodes between the sections and that the discovery was accidentally made during this operation. In any event, the discovery was made. The distribution of firepistons was so widespread by the time of those first European explorers that it indicates knowledge of the necessary technology for ages. It continues to be used in some are.
The full article by W.R. Knapp can be found here.

What if the technology had spread to the Indian/Chinese mainland and from there trough the Silk Road to Europe. Or what if it spread with the help of polynesian explorer to South America ? How would the world have changed ?
 

Delta Force

Banned
It's a rather simple technology, and it could be useful for explorers, soldiers, and survival situations. The issue Europe and other areas would have before the 1800s is that they don't have bamboo to make the cheap and easy version of the fire piston.
 
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