Steam Hammer

A steam hammer, also called a drop hammer, is an industrial power hammer driven by steam and used for tasks such as shaping forgings and driving piles. In most designs the hammer is attached to a piston that slides within a fixed cylinder, though some designs instead attach the hammer to a cylinder that slides along a fixed piston. James Watt described the concept in 1784, but the first working steam hammer was not built until 1840, to meet the demand for forging increasingly large iron and steel components. In 1843 a dispute broke out between France's Francois Bourdon and Britain's James Nasmyth over who had invented the machine: Bourdon had built the first working example, but Nasmyth claimed it was built from a copy of his own design. A steam hammer built in 1891 by the Bethlehem Iron Company delivered a 125 ton blow. Steam hammers were gradually displaced during the twentieth century by mechanical and hydraulic presses, though some remain in use, and compressed air power hammers descended from them are still manufactured.