Vulcan #2 Hammer: Specifications and Information

The #2 was one of the earliest “Warrington-Vulcan” single-acting hammers to be produced. The first one was S/N 6, made for the Marquette, Houghton and Ontonagon Railroad Company. The general arrangement for the hammer is above.

2-Steam-Pile-Hammer-1887 — The first extant layout of the Vulcan #2 Hammer, dated 9 February 1887. It’s probably the first extant layout of the Warrington-Vulcan hammer. Until about World War I, it was common practice for Vulcan to lay out the general arrangement and then the shop produce the hammer from just that drawing. It’s an indication of both the skill and the decision making ability of those actually producing the product, and also probably of the involvement of those doing the design work.

D51V1010 — And the last: the cable #2 hammer, sporting a McDermid bases, as many of its keyed counterparts did. It was never built due to the construction cost issues; it was easier, as Vulcan did with the State of Tennessee, to lighten a #1 ram and use that frame.

Specification Sheets for this hammer are as follows:

Specifications Bulletin 68 — Specifications, Vulcan Bulletin 68

Specifications Bulletin 68G — Specifications, Vulcan Bulletin 68G

Specifications Bulletin 68K — Specifications, Vulcan Bulletin 68K

The #2 was very popular for a long time; however, it ran into two difficulties from the 1960’s onward.

The first was that pile specifications were calling for a larger hammer (such as the #1) and contractors found their #2 hammers sitting in the yard with little to do.

The second, from Vulcan’s standpoint, is that the production costs of the #2 were not much less than the #1. When Vulcan produced a #2 for the State of Tennessee in the early 1990’s, it simply took the #1 frame and put a 3,000 lb. ram in it. Since the stroke was longer, more energy was available.

Nevertheless the #2 still finds it way onto piling jobs, especially wood pile projects.

Other information: