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Title: |
1878 Article-B. & S. Massey, Steam Hammer |
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Source: |
The Implement & Machinery Review, V4 #42, 02 Oct 1878, pgs. 1831-1832 |
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Insert Date: |
11/14/2014 1:39:28 PM |
It is a work of real pleasure to have to allude to the steam hammers of Messrs. B. & S Massey, Openshaw, Manchester, for the hammers of this firm are in every respect deserving the most unqualified praise. The opinion of the judges at the Paris Exhibition on this point may be gathered from the fact that they have awarded Messrs. Massey's exhibits the prize medal for goods of this description; and thus, in so many words, testify to the superior excellence of the specialties of this firm. Messrs. Massey's display of hammers is indeed one of the features of the Exhibition, as was the case with their display at Philadelphia.
It has usually been imagined that stem hammers are only of service in the case of very heavy forgings. But the truth is that they are as valuable for light work as for heavy, provided that they are properly designed and constructed. Messrs. Massey have conclusively shown that this can be done, for they manufacture hammers down to ½ cwt. The ½ cwt., the 1½ cwt., and the 5 cwt. hammers are made with single standards, and are operated with the foot. Thus, the man who is holding his work on the anvil, can stop and start the hammer, and regulate the force and the speed of the blows. Such hammers, we mean the smaller sizes, are especially valuable for many light kinds of work, such for instance, as the forging of files, cutlery, and bolts, and by the rapidity of their action, they effect a very important saving of wages. This can be the more easily realized when it is stated that a smith with a steam hammer can do as much work as two or three without it. Then great economy in fuel is secured, inasmuch as with one beating of the iron, much more work can be done than is possible by hand. Then, further economy is secured by the fact that, by means of a small steam hammer, scraps, old shafts, and other bits of iron commonly regarded as almost useless, can be worked up into forgings of the very best quality. It is said upon authority—and we have no reason to disbelieve it—that in many cases the saving amounts to 50 per cent, or even more. Thus the cost of a hammer may be defrayed in a few months. Admirable indeed are the mechanical arrangements of Messrs. Massey’s hammers; and their quality is especially commendable. The cylinder of each hammer is tested with steam before delivery, and the pistons are forged upon the piston rods in one solid piece. All the hammers are double acting; that is to say, they will strike lightly or heavily, quickly or slowly, and with long or short strokes, this being entirely at the will of the operator. It has been ascertained by careful experiments that the maximum blow of one of the smallest hammers (½ cwt.), with a boiler pressure of 40 lbs. per square inch, produces a. crushing effect as great as a load of 2½ tons, and a 5 cwt. hammer a crushing effect equal to a load of about 30 tons. Messrs. Massey are the makers of large hammers as well as of the smaller kinds we have mentioned, but we have prominently referred to those which we illustrate, because it seems to us that many of our readers could adopt them very much to their own advantage, and to the cheapening of the cost of their productions. Economy in the cost of working is becoming a matter of greater and greater necessity. Here is a most valuable means to that end, for in these small hammers the manufacturer has a powerful agent that will always work, work well, and accomplish much more than human hands and muscles could perform. |
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1878 B. & S. Massey, Steam Hammer
1878 B. & S. Massey, Steam Hammer
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