Vulcan #1 Hammer: Specifications and Information

The #1 is, in many ways, the “flagship” of the line. Produced from the beginning of the Warrington-Vulcan hammers, it was and is a popular hammer.

327-north-bell-1 — The Vulcan #1 hammer in the place where many were made: the 327 North Bell Avenue facility in Chicago. This photo graced Vulcan’s literature in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

The last Chicago general arrangement is above; other general arrangements are below.

A general arrangement from 1891, probably the first extant of the #1. As was typically the case, many details were included to allow the Clinton St. factory to make it from this and a few other drawings.

A slightly later #1 general arrangement from the early days, in this case from 1898,

The keyed #1 from Vulcan’s Chattanooga era.

A #1 general arrangement featuring a Vari-Cycle (trip shifter.) Since most Vulcan hammers were run with the valve chest facing backwards in U-Type leaders, the trip shifting was removed. Vari-Cycle II addressed this issue, but this was many years later.

An early cable type #1 hammer, replacing the column keys. This version sports tapered fittings on the bottom, an adaptation from Raymond. Another Raymond adaptation were the cables to the cylinder head. Later onshore hammers used a straight “button” type fitting on the bottom and ran the cables to just above the valve chest on the cylinder.

Various versions of the specifications for the #1 are shown below.