The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-02-23 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY STEAM HAMMER FOR
FORGING IRON.

There has recently been erected in the yard of Messrs.
Peter Cato and Co., south end of the Brunswick Dock, a
huge hammer, worked by steam, on the plan and con-
struction patented a short time ago by Mr. James Nes-
mith, of Patricroft, near Manchester, an invention which.
will prove a valuable addition to the apparatus hitherto
employed. The whole machine, and the furnace for
bringing the iron to be wrought, to a malleable white
heat, are fixed under a large shed, open on three sides,'
and smoothly paved with fire tiles.
The frame of this hammering engine ( for so it may be
called) consists of a massive flattish iron casting, forming
a kind of arch, with strong abutments in the same piece,
the whole well secured below, the bedding being on piles,
as the ground in this quarter is forced. In the interior or
opening of -.this arch, there are at its top part, which is
partly filled up, perpendicular lateral grooves in the iron,
to guide, in its descent and elevation, the heavy hammer,
which maintains its vertical position, and is worked by a
piston and rod, moving up and down with any required
rapidity within a vertical cylinder fixed on the top of the
arch, and supplied with steam from a pipe overhead, con-
nected with the boiler that supplies steam for the general
machinery of the yard. The cylinder is 13 inches in dia-
meter, and the extreme length of stroke of the hammer—
a long square block of iron, weighing 22 cwt.—is, from
its top elevation to the anvil, three 'feet. The extreme
force of the blow that may be given is equal to about five
tons ; but this may be instantly reduced to the most
gentle tap or any immediate force between the two. The
face of the hammer is flat, as is that of the anvil, which
weighs 61 cwt. One grand advantage is, that the face of
the hammer being still a horizontal plane, whatever the
thickness or shape of the iron to be beaten may be—a de-
cided improvement over the ordinary tilt hammer—which,
from its being fixed at the extremity of a bar, hits, on its
descent, at continually varying angles of its face, the iron
to be forged, according to the various thickness of the
iron operated upon, the face, in fact, being horizontal at
only one point.
The principle of the steam hammer is that of the piling-
machine, as the blow derives little or no force from the
steam, but is imparted by the rapid descent of the falling
mass suddenly let loose by cutting off the steam. There
is an ingenious combination of long screws standing per-
pendicularly, and valve and other handles, worked by one
man standing on a small elevated railed latform on one
side the framework ; and it is surprising with what rapidi-
ty and precision the length (downwards) as well as the
power of the blow can he regulated by an adept, so as to
strike the hot iron, whatever its thickness, with the re-
quired force and nothing more. A walnut may he cracked
without bruising the kernel.
Not only is the hammer a powerful means of fashioning
iron knees, knee moulds, anchors, moulds, &c., and other
heavy work ; but it is applicable to the forging into
moulds all kinds of scrap iron, from rivet-holes
or clipnings, old nails, broken bolts, &c. &c. We wit-
nessed this redeeming process with surprise and gratifica-
tion. The scrap iron is made up as best may be into
squares or piles. One of these is put into the fur-
nace, and in a very short time, attaining a white
heat, is welded or united together in one glowing
mass. A long bar of iron is then introduced into the fur-
nace, and the end of it being put upon the top of the
mass, becomes almost instantly combined or united with
it. The mass is then drawn out by the beicand conveyed
rapidly on an iron waggon, commonly called 'a trawley,
from the furnace mouth to the anvil ; the top of the
waggon being precisely of the same height as both.
A single man holds the bar, and by it turns the
iron as required while the ponderous hammer is let
down upon it, in blows that shake the adjacent ground
for some distance around, and deals with the glowing iron
as if it were as soft as putty, crushing out of it all the bad,
and leaving the good. Comparatively few blows -are re-
quired to form it into a square bloom, ready as new iron to
be I)(...ten out or attenuated at minor forges into any4e-
quir:(l form or article. The scrap iron, which is worth
only a!)out £5 per ton, is by the operation rendered of
the value of £lO to £l2.

The chimney of the furnace is of curious construction.
It is cased round with common brick to the top, supported
below on four cast iron pillars, and secured with tension
rods outwardly secured at the four angles. There are
also openings in the casement. By this means the fire
bricks of the chimney, which frequently require renewal
from being burnt away, may be taken out at any part
and replaced by new ones.