Welcome to vulcanhammer.info, the site about Vulcan Iron Works, which manufactured the durable air/steam line of pile driving equipment for more than a century. Many of its products are still in service today, providing reliable performance all over the world. There’s a lot here, use the search box below if you’re having trouble finding something. Also look at the end of an article, there are helpful links to more information with every post.
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.
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.
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