Although Vulcan became a "one-product" company with the success of the Warrington-Vulcan hammers, it furnished a wide variety of accessories and other products to go with its successful pile hammers. From the turn of the century until the Great Depression, Vulcan issued one catalogue to cover the entire line of steam hammers, drop hammers, accessories … Continue reading In the Catalogue: Vulcan Leaders, Rigs and Accessories, 1906-1931
In 1912 Vulcan produced the first Vulcan #0 hammer. With its larger cylinder, columns, ram point, cushion diameter and leaders, it represented an important step upwards from the #1 and ultimately was the progenitor of a long line of Vulcan hammers, including the 0R, 08, 010, 012, 508, 510 and 512. (Specifications for these are … Continue reading Vulcan “00”: The Big Hammer That Wasn’t
Vulcan is best known for its "open type" Naysmith-ancestry hammers. Most of Vulcan's competitors (MKT, Union/Arnott, etc.) produced "closed type" hammers, where the ram was invisible to the users. But Vulcan ventured into the closed hammer type as well. The first of this type Vulcan produced was the #5, shown at right. First produced in … Continue reading Vulcan #5: The First Closed Hammer
It was inevitable that a product line as long in duration as Vulcan's would attract attention outside of the deep foundations industry. In the course of developing the "Tools" program on various types of construction equipment and techniques, the Atlas Media Group (which did productions for The History Channel) contacted Vulcan. In July 2005 their … Continue reading Vulcan and the History Channel
The Vulcan steam hammer (the use of air came later) began when the company began to manufacture hammers under the patent of Thomas T. Loomis (U.S. Patent 160,781) in 1875. This hammer used many of the main features of the Nasmyth hammer (which had been developed in the UK) but used an improved valve gear. … Continue reading The First Pile Hammers
Vulcan's impetus towards pile driving equipment was driven in part by the involvement of the Warrington family in the marine field, both construction and ship building/operation. That commercialisation wasn't restricted to the pile driving equipment; before World War I, Vulcan was an active builder of dredging equipment, which combined its machinery design and manufacturing capabilities … Continue reading Vulcan and Dredges
For the first half century or so of its existence, Vulcan was a diversified company with several markets related to public and civil works. One of those was bridges, both road and railroad. Today it is customary to build bridges fixed as high as the navigation (or lack thereof) requires. But the combination of expense … Continue reading Vulcan and Bridges
Everyone has an experience in their life that they count the greatest. Corporations do, too. For Vulcan Iron Works, that experience was its involvement in offshore oil development. Come join us as we take a look at Vulcan's involvement offshore, which follows a fascinating (and very profitable) saga of American commercial history. You can click … Continue reading Vulcan: the Offshore Experience
Vulcan hammers found themselves used literally all over the world; here are a few photos showing them "doing their stuff."
Without a doubt the most intriguing "special product" Vulcan's West Palm Beach facility produced was the Construction Assistance Vehicle (CAV). The purpose of this was to provide an underwater craft to transport personnel and materiel during underwater construction. The CAV was capable of transporting one U.S. Ton (2000 lbs.) at a speed of 2 knots. … Continue reading Construction Assistance Vehicle (CAV)
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