The use of mud tuyeres allowed primitive African tribes to smelt metals early on. With out forced blast it's difficult
to reach elevated temps.
Blacksmith for 30 years.
The water cooled tuyeres in your link are primarily used
in Blast furnace operations.
Even with forced blast from a Catalan forge the most wrought iron ball that could be formed in the puddling
process was a couple of hundred pounds, it wasn't until
the Bessemer process that mass production of steel really
took off.
Here they are concerned with bronze casting but anything
that would make the process more efficient was important.