The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-11-11
THE AGE OF HAMMERS
REMARKABLE STRIDES IN MAX
 ING THESE TOOLS.
The Claw Hammer-The Shoemak- ers' Hammer-Duplex Ham mers Are the Larg-
 est in Existence.

The mechanics hammer of today Is essentially an American product. This is the age of hammers, in view of the fact that this age sees .he hammer in its greatest state of proficiency says The American Exporter. Exactly when the hammer carce into use IS not told in his tory, but it is certain that some rude form of the instrument must have been used in the earliest days of handicraft. Of the hammers made in America today there is no end There IS the tiny little tack hammer which weighs only few ounces, and Is indispensable In house, store or factory. Then there is the twen- ty and thirty ton hammer driven by steam and used for making immense rorg1ngs The numberless effects which are due to its remarkable force has made the ham, mer a necessity in all trades. Immense manufactures. employing thousands Of men, are grinding year in and year out making hammers, while ten times as many wholesale houses are busy putting the product on the market The industry has advanced to such a stage that many general hardware firms in the United States have thrown out the hammer leaving it to the houses that deal In tools exclusively.
 Hammers are made in variety or shapes, the most in demand being the claw hammer This and the shoemaker hammer have retained thetr shape Tor hundreds of years. One gold beating firm relies on them entirely. The sheets or leaves of gold are hammered to such ex- ceeding thinness that two hundred and fifty thousand are required to make up the thickness of an inch Another odd product of the hammer is the butcher g hammer, used for killing cattle. It is capable when properly yielded of car rying very heavy blow. Then there are the stone cutters hammer the carpet layers hammer the wood carver's mallet and the plumbers odd implement All of these have good sale in the markets of the world. because they possess a no'f Wh plicated in the output of other countries
 In the South Sea Islands tree felling contests are of such importance that specially made axes are imported for the work from America It is reported by way of illustration that a difference of half an ounce in the theft" of an axe lost the championship to one skilled chopper who had retained it for quarter of century. He was compelled to ac- cept an axe of European make. and al- though 1t was to the eye of the layman equal in every way to the Yankee pro duct, something was missing, and all sorts of tests were made to discover what II was. The heartbroken ex-champion final- ly agreed that the difference lay in slight curve of the handle and an excess weight of half an ouace in the head South Seas in felling timber that a dozen blows the trunk of a tree will show but tte one gash, as though done by g single blow of mighty power
 
 the American foundryman sees to 1t tha the instrument balances perfectly be- fore 1t 8 passed as being O. K. By bal ancing is meant that the center Of gray ity, when the hammer is standing on 1t head, runs from the apex of the clay diagonally through the handle, just touch ing the very edge of the end surface. l the instrument fails to pass this test i is rejected and either sold for low price without a name, or consigned to scral pile Small as such a defect might seen fin itself. the amount of excess energy required to wield the implement would run up into several horse power in thu course of the life of one hammer alone A mechanic of today is man of brain! as well as muscle, and the same tension or edge" requisite in artistic piano playing, oil painting and billiard playing is necessary Tn the crafts, although ma turally in lesser degree:
 The manufacture of tools for the vari ous divisions of labor has. therefore, be come in this country something more tnar an output of units in enormous Quant ties There must be a spirit of harmon. between maker and user, and the needs of the latter taken seriously into consid eration. An illustration or this wa! shown in England recently where Ameri can brickayers amazed the native workers by laying fully 60 per cent. more bricks 1T one day than the best British record. In vestigation disclosed the fact that thu bricks were made on the American plan somewhat smaller in every way thar those in general use in England. The CT, went up that no comparison was possible in view of this glaring discrepancy, anc the trade press was occupied with tn, controversy for many days.
 Our English cousins failed to take int consideration the fact tha. the eAtrs energy required to handle a bri?k, some what unwialdy and ovcr weighted from tke American stan 1poirt, would milit7t' against the earning power of the lndi viduals and the corresponding percentagr of profit of his employer. The wonder ful display of rapi1ity and mechanical skill of the American artisans has led tt a more or less acceptance of the Ameri