What Is a Steam Hammer?

The steam hammer refers to the machine hammer driven by water vapor, and the piston rod device of the hammer head and the cylinder can move up and down to hammer forgings. Also known as steam-air hammer. Compared with the air hammer, the steam hammer has a larger impact energy. ^[1]

The steam hammer is an older piling machine. Since the steam hammer needs to be equipped with a large set of boiler equipment, it is not convenient to use, so it was replaced by the diesel hammer developed later.

However, recently, due to the limitation of white weight and exhaust pollution and noise, diesel hammers are difficult to develop to large scales, and cannot meet the requirements of many large pile foundation constructions. Steam hammers have re-developed.

Steam hammer can be divided into three types: free forging hammer, die forging hammer and sheet stamping hammer. The frame of the free forging hammer is separated from the anvil; the frame of the forging hammer is installed on the anvil, and the guide rail is longer, which can align the upper and lower dies and increase the structural rigidity of the hammer to obtain accurate forgings; The structure of the hammer is similar to that of the forged hammer. The steam die forging hammer can forge various shapes of complex forgings, but the vibration during hammering is large, and it must have a heavy anvil and a huge foundation.

The British J. Smith was a prolific inventor who had developed a small steam locomotive and invented a bed called the "Insmith Smith Arm". Despite his popularity, what really made him famous in the world was the steam hammer he invented in 1841. People have long been looking for a tool that can forge large workpieces, because with the development of the industry, it was no longer possible to meet the needs of society by manpower forging parts earlier. Many parts on trains and ships, for example, cannot be moved by manpower, and even a powerful blacksmith can only look forward to iron sigh. So people urgently need more powerful arms and hammers. The invention of the steam engine brought a glimmer of light to the craftsmen, and the mechanics began to consider the huge energy generated by the steam engine to realize their dreams. In 1836, the owner of a factory called F. Carvey in Paris, France had already produced a steam hammer, but it was not perfect. Until 1841, Naismith produced his standing "human" character. Behemoth. Neysmith was fascinated by the steam engine when he was young. At the age of 19, he built a small steam locomotive and drove the streets of Edinburgh for several months. The steam hammer he invented has been perfected and has very strong forging ability. In 1851, his steam hammer was sent to the World Expo to participate in the exhibition. In the sound of the whistle, many large iron blocks were forged by the steam hammer like plasticine in the hands of an artist. People can't help seeing this scene. Amaze. Since then, Smith has become famous all over the world. The invention of the steam hammer has played an extremely important role in the development of the heavy metallurgical industry.

The steam hammer can be divided according to its working conditions: single-acting type-the impact body consumes power only when it is rising; falling by its own weight; double-acting type-the piston is lifted by steam; differential type-when the piston is rising The steam pushes, and when it descends, it is pushed by the pressure difference.

The steam hammer has many advantages: it can be made into a large size, which can be used to drive inclined piles, horizontal piles, and even upward piles; the impact energy of the steam hammer can be adjusted steplessly in the range of 25% -100%. Therefore, the pile driving accuracy is high, the sledge hammer can drive small piles, and the pile head stress is small; the steam hammer does not cause overheating like the diesel hammer, so the long-term running performance will not change; the operation of the steam hammer is not affected by the hardness of the soil Diesel hammers often fail to start on soft soil; steam hammers can piling underwater; steam hammers do not emit harmful gases themselves when they work.