Ancient hammers (XIX Century martinets) French |
POWER HAMMER THEORY The earliest power hammers were simple water powered devices. A cam wheel directly attached to the shaft of the water wheel raised the hammer on its helve and dropped it. Gravity does the work. No one knows when the first of these hammers was built but they are probably as old as the iron age. All the wrought iron that fueled the early part of the industrial revolution was produced on these machines. |
The key points of this type of hammer are:
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The advantage of the helve design is that the pivot bearings are a very simple guide system and there are very few parts. The disadvantage is the size of the machine and that the hammer velocity is no greater than the acceleration of gravity will allow in a short distance. |
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In 1839 James Nasmyth invented the steam hammer in order to make forgings
larger than those that could be made at the time under helve hammers.
The first of these hammers was a 20 ton hammer built in France in 1840-41.
The animation is from his drawing of that hammer.
The steam hammer raises the ram via means of steam pressure and then reverses the force pushing the ram downward faster than gravity alone. The early hammers were huge and it wasn't until much later that small steam hammers were manufactured. Modern air and steam hammers are almost of identical design |
The key points of this type hammer are:
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The advantage of these hammers was the great power obtained from a simple boiler.
These were the most powerful machines of the steam era and required the simplest of mechanisms.
Today the advantage is still the simplicity of the design as there are few moving parts. You can also put more power in a smaller package when the prime mover is a remote power source (boiler or air compressor). |
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