flame pump

The flame pump is a tool used by fire handlers to create small embers.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The flame pump is a tube of metal, highly polished on the inside.  One end seats within a tightly-fitting cap with a quick-release mechanism; the other end houses a piston.  Flame pumps can be operated by hand or by foot.  If used by hand, a flange on the cap is held flat against a hard, immobile surface.  If used by foot, the entire tube is placed in a holder slightly taller than the piston handle at full compression.  The user places a small amount of flammable material in a depression within the cap, then connects the tube.  By striking the piston rapidly into the tube, the air within compresses, heating the material in the cap to the point of combustion.  The cap is opened, and the burning material used as a spark to light a larger flame.

Item type

Tool

Related ethnicities

• Miridaswian

Rarity

The dangers associated with open flame combined with the widespread use of geothermal heating and solar cooking have all but eliminated the use of fire in the Volcanic Era. In the ocean at large, use of the flame pump (and therefore its primary existence) is limited to trained fire handlers. The exception is the village of Miridaswi, where everyone above the age of ten is taught to operate it, and each household keeps at least two.