(mechanical engineering) A forging hammer in which the ram is raised, lowered, and operated by a steam cylinder.
Steam hammer
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(′stēm ′ham·ər)
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For the pressure surge caused by the kinetic energy of a fluid in motion, see Water hammer.
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A steam hammer is a power-driven hammer used to shape forgings. It consists of a hammer-like piston located within a cylinder. The hammer is raised by the pressure of steam injected into the lower part of a cylinder and falls down with a force by removing the steam. Usually, the hammer is made to fall faster by injecting steam into the upper part of the cylinder. Steam hammers that fall by their own weight are called steam drop hammers. Steam hammers vary greatly in weight from 45 kilograms to 90 metric tons.
The steam hammer was invented around 1837 by the Scot James Nasmyth, in Manchester, England and produced in his Patricroft foundry which he built adjacent to the (then new) Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Bridgewater Canal; an original Nasmyth hammer stands facing his foundry buildings (now a 'business park'). A larger Nasmyth & Wilson steam hammer stands in the campus of the University of Bolton.
The intended first use of the steam hammer lay in forging the paddle shaft of the SS Great Britain. However, the paddle technology was replaced with the screw propeller, and implementation of the hammer was left to the Schneider Electric, Creusot foundry in Le Creusot, France.
The steam hammer was one of many machine tools invented around this time which allowed for large scale industrialisation and the use of machines to build machines. Using the same principles of operation, Nasmyth also developed a steam powered pile-driving machine.
See also
References
- The Creusot steam hammer – An International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 16 September 1981)
External links
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 | tempering oil (materials) |
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| Ladish Co., Inc. (Public Company) |
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 | Sci-Tech Dictionary. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. Copyright © 2003, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1978, 1976, 1974 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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Mentioned in
- tempering oil (materials)
- James Nasmyth
- Ladish Co., Inc. (Public Company)
- ram
- forging (in metallurgy)
- scaling
- Nasmyth (art)
- Le Creusot
- John Henry (American legendary hero)
- Saginaw, Michigan (1964 Album by Lefty Frizzell)
- Year 1839 (in Science & Technology)
- Iron and steel forgings (SIC 3462) (industry)
- steam
- Great Exhibition
