Heavy Metal
- Thread starter amazinblue82
- Start date
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
June 1942. "Wheeler Dam, Alabama (Tennessee Valley Authority). Gantry crane."
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
1893 Bethlehem Iron Co., 125 Ton Steam Powered Hammer
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
from #2104
Nerd Alert.
I wanted to know more about this item.
Bethlehem Steel, a US company licensed this patented design for a steam_hammer from a French company. It was a 100 ton design (i.e., the blow the hammer struck on a piece of metal equaled 100 tons).
That French hammer, the largest of its time, is now a tourist attraction in Le Creusot, France. Photos below, and another from turn of 20th century in use, and full story at the links.
sources: Creusot steam hammer - Wikipedia, The Creusot Steam Hammer
Bethlehem improved the design to strike a 125 ton blow.
Anyway, I ran across this Scottish chap named James Nasmyth. Never heard of him before today. What did he do? In 1839, he invented the steam_hammer
What's the big deal?
The steam hammer, using the innovation for the steam engine, was one of the key inventions that lead to the industrial revolution. The shipbuilding, construction, locomotives, government mints, military armaments, etc... industries flourished in the 19th century.
These cats discovered how, almost 200 years ago, better ways to shape metal, lead to better tools/machines that USED that metal, which in turn lead to NEW, better machines, to in turn make bigger/better tools, to in turn make bigger/better machines that USED the stuff made from those tools.
And so on. We needed better hammers to make better tools to make better hammers equals the Titanic, the 747, nuclear plants, USS Iowa, F-14's, etc.
The rest they say is history.
The world we live in today, and even some of the methods from 175 years ago still in use (e.g,. striking a red-hot piece of metal, with a heavy weight, so as shape it into whatever want), was built with these machines.
Hydraulics, presses, electrics, other stuff, replaced steam but still .. fascinating engineering from these folks with NO computers at their disposal!
16 minute video immediately below, first 60 seconds to see modern hammers at work as well as related metal shaping methods.
13 minute video below, to finish this nerd alert, talking about this history of the steam hammer and James Nasmyth .. one of the most UN-known, richest inventor in heavy metal history.
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Another one of these powerful engine vids. 30 mins long, several examples.
Wildly impractical applications in some cases, highly innovative in any era.
Wildly impractical applications in some cases, highly innovative in any era.
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
The hook of one of the 10,000mt cranes on the heavy lift vessel Heerema Sleipnir - Used to install and scrap oil drilling platforms - can use both to lift and move 20,000 tons
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
GE Turbine Plant, Schenectady, New York, 1940
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
The battlecruiser HMS Hood leads the battle cruiser HMS Renown, c. 1935.
Two ships that wouldn't see the end of 1941.
Hood definitely did not - famously, catastrophically sunk by the Bismarck.
source: The Bismarck Action: The Destruction of HMS Hood
I think, however, the Renown did survive WWII and was retired.
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I got it wrong. It was Renown's sister ship, Repulse, that was sunk along with the Prince of Whales on December 10, 1941.
I did not know the Repulse and PofW story. Only had peripheral understanding of these events.
source: Sinking of the HMS Repulse - History Of Diving Museum
"On December 10, 1941, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse and battleship HMS Prince of Wales sank off the east coast of Malaysia. The British warships were the central elements of Force Z, tasked with intercepting a Japanese invasion fleet.
Having sailed without any air support, Force Z was attacked in open waters and had its two largest warships sunk by long-range torpedo bombers.
Along with the attack on Pearl Harbor only three days earlier, this illustrated the effectiveness of aerial attacks against even the heaviest of naval assets if they were not protected by air cover."
source: Sinking of the HMS Repulse - History Of Diving Museum
"On December 10, 1941, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse and battleship HMS Prince of Wales sank off the east coast of Malaysia. The British warships were the central elements of Force Z, tasked with intercepting a Japanese invasion fleet.
Having sailed without any air support, Force Z was attacked in open waters and had its two largest warships sunk by long-range torpedo bombers.
Along with the attack on Pearl Harbor only three days earlier, this illustrated the effectiveness of aerial attacks against even the heaviest of naval assets if they were not protected by air cover."
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67newport
Old Man with a Hat
22 minutes well spent. 100 years ago. Several things stuck out, but mainly guys walking around 800 feet up with NO safety rigging in sight, guys in regular hats (no hard hats), and sport coats/suit jackets.
And, btw, any of you who know construction.. What is a "Carnegie Beam"? Darm tjings were "constructed" themselves ..bunch of steel plating and rivets. fascinating.
That building is gonna stand for 1,000 years. It cost $41Million (including land cost of $17 Million) tto build in 1931. In 2023 money, that is almost $800 Million - and that assumes with today's standards/material availablity, it could even be duplicated.
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
no computers just paper, pencil,slide rules and a brain
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
no chinesium steel in this building
