A fire piston from Malaysia
This is a Malaysia fire piston I purchased from a local indigenous maker in Pahang. Also known as a fire syringe or ‘Api Lantak’ (hitting fire), this piece was made by order as a souvenir. Obviously this piece has been shellacked to make it look nicer but the wood itself is a natural yellowish color. The maker has also ‘creatively’ added a small storage area attached to the cylinder to hold some tinder.
According to some internet research (especially wikipedia), fire pistons have been used by the natives of South East Asia and the Pacific Islands as a means to start fire. Such technology may have existed in these communities for hundreds or maybe thousands of years. And rumor has it that it is exactly this technology that may have inspired Rudolf Diesel to create diesel engine somewhat in 1892!
This is my Malaysia fire piston compared to a Mora Viking knife
Measuring just a few inches, my fire piston is incredible small and light. Though I doubt if I will be bringing it around to start my fires, this according to my good friend Pak Abu is a piece of history that must not be forgotten. And yes, this fire piston works. We tried it when we met the maker himself.
It worked probably because of the care and passion that went into making the piece. Though the maker admitted that he used a drill to help make the hole in the cylinder, it’s still a very intricate piece of work. Traditionally, they would have drilled manually by hand but that would take like weeks, probably months.
The fire piston came with natural fibers that act as seals (o-rings)
One important component of the fire piston is the ‘seal’ in which the maker used fibers from the tree bark of a ‘Terap’ tree. If not mistaken ‘Terap’ is from the Artocarpus genus, probably the Artocarpus elasticus.
The tinder the maker gave us seems to be some sort very dry and fluffy ‘cotton’. He told us it came from a jungle tree as well. I guess this is something that I need to find out.
The maker gave us some tinder too
It is interesting how such technology came about. The sad thing is that it is a lost knowledge and the skills to make it the olden way would have probably been forgotten by now. These days, whenever I visit any of the indigenous people of Malaysia, I would ask them how they or their ancestors start fire for cooking food and keeping warm. The usual answer unfortunately is the modern ‘lighter’. I don’t blame them really. A lighter is so much easier to use to light a fire.
Anyway, at least now I own a piece of history! I plan to try to start a fire using this fire piston and hopefully Meun would be around to help me capture it in video. Here’s to fire piston Malaysia!
Hi,
Super post, Need to mark it on Digg
Thanks
AlexAxe
Congrats for owning a part of history.
Couple of years ago a friend once told me how his late .
Thai grandfather use to start a fire to light his ciggy using a wooden contraption at Wat PingbanOn,Penang.
Thereafter have done some research into this fire-piston thing and had 1 built from stainless steel based on a web design BUT couldn’t get it working – possibly due to the quick heat dissipation by the steel cylinder upon striking resulting in not enuff heat at the tip. A total flop.
Could u provide the contact details where you get your FP should I like to get my hands on 1too…..
Cheers
Hi Loh! In Penang??!! Wow…that’s cool man. I didn’t know we have them in Penang (I am from Kedah but my parents are from Penang). Wow…you ought to go and find out if the Wat still has it. It is worth a lot in terms of history and cultural significance. Email coming your way!
Hi Keong,
The Fire Piston was taken back to Songkla by my friend’s grandpa when he went back there to be with his kin-folks during his final journey in life there.
Ah…that’s a shame. It would have been cool to have a look at a Penang version of a fire piston
Hi Keong,
Nice one …. in fact all your articles are good. Keep it up. Why don’t cha post some instructions on how to make on on this “api lantak”. Would be interesting.
Anyway off topic a little bit. Hope you don’t mind. I notice you have been using mora knives. Where can I get them in Malaysia?
Hi Stanley…thanks for dropping by. I did not make them Fire Pistons. They are actually an almost ‘lost’ skills of the Orang Asal in Malaysia. Even they have started making them using hand drills etc!
Mora knives! They are wonderful. A friend bought them for me when she went on a holiday trip in Scandinavia. Someone in KL has brought them in. I will email you those details. I prefer not to be seen as selling stuff
Thanks buddy.
Exactly when these devices first became known to the west is clouded in mystery. It could have been as early as 1521 when Magellan’s ships first landed in the Philippines. The first record of their being in Europe is in 1745 but as only a lab curiosity. It is obvious that the history of their introduction to western technology is clouded by western prejudice against primitive creativity. But the timing is just too much of a coincidence not to attribute the proper place that this technology had in the west’s technological advancement.
You see the greatest service these devices performed, was not making fire in Europe’s primitive laboratories but igniting the curiosity of some of Europe’s best minds. The quest to understand how this simple wood device could ignite wood or paper without even becoming warm gave birth to the science of Thermal Dynamics. The later developed European glass versions made study of the underlying science much easier. Engineers and scientists like Nicolas Carnot, James Watt, William Rankin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Rudolf Cluasius, and finally Nicolas Otto all sought to further define and/or make technical use of the little understood principals behind the fire piston.
This device made it clear that there existed a relationship between volume, pressure and the temperature of gasses. Another curious thing was observed about the glass versions of the fire piston. If no combustible material was placed in the bore, a striking of the piston left the device’s parts coupled, but add a combustible material and the piston and bore would jump apart after being struck. The more volatile the combustible used the more the resulting force against the piston. Clearly some of the heat from the combustion was being converted into work by this device. It was this observation which led to the development of the internal combustion engine by Nicolas Otto and eventually the diesel engine by Rudolf Diesel.
The thermal dynamic laws eventually formulated from the study of this device became the foundation for all heat engines and all refrigeration systems in use today.
To call this device a “piece of history” is a profound understatement to the max. That little device, that wonderful technology started the steam powered industrial revolution in the late 18th century, which led to the steam powered transportation revolution of the 19th century, and when the full understanding of how the fire piston was an internal combustion device it led to the Otto cycle powered automotive revolution of the 20th century, and today the steam and diesel electric power, born from an understanding of that device, is powering our information revolution. That device is not a “piece of history” it is in fact the very foundation of the history of the last three centuries. Without it and the thinking it produced we would still be traveling on sail boats and horse powered connivances we would have no electric power nor any air-conditioning or refrigeration. Life without heat engines and refrigeration would be a bitch! No other technology or field of science has produced more significant or profound benefits for humanity than that sparked by this small fire producing device invented by some long forgotten, isolated genius in the Philippine archipelago. So pick that fire piston up and show some respect for the brilliant mind who invented it and those who uncovered its mysteries.
I’m pleased! You seem very informed about this topic and it shows. Looking forward to future posts. Cheers!