Fan (machine) the airflow from the fans. Thus, fans may become ineffective at cooling the body if the surrounding air is near body temperature and contains high humidity. The punkah fan was used in India about 500 BCE. It was a handheld fan made from bamboo strips or other plant fibre, that could be rotated or fanned to move air. During British rule, the word came to be used by Anglo-Indians to mean a large swinging flat fan, fixed to the ceiling, and pulled by a servant, called the punkawallah. For purposes of air conditioning, the Han Dynasty craftsman and engineer Ding
Scarlet (cloth) Scarlet (cloth) Scarlet was a type of fine and expensive woollen cloth common in Medieval Europe. In the assessment of John Munro, 'the medieval "scarlet" was therefore a very high-priced, luxury, woollen broadcloth, invariably woven from the finest English wools, and always dyed with kermes, even if mixed with woad, and other dyestuffs. There is no evidence for the use of the term "scarlet" for any other textile, even though other textiles, especially silks, were also dyed with kermes.' The origins of the word "scarlet" have been debated quite extensively and are crucial to understanding what scarlet actually was in