Vulcan pile extractors were largely designed to extract sheet piling. The standard connection had two (2) or three (3) holes that needed to be burned into the sheeting. While this provided a very durable connection, it was time consuming and is not really applicable to piling such as wood piling. Above is a diagram, taken … Continue reading Pulling Adapters for Vulcan Extractors
On our Engineering at Vulcan page, we posted this general arrangement of the Vulcan #2 dated 1887. Little did we suspect that we'd need that drawing, but then these photos from Crofton Diving of Portsmouth, VA, arrived: The hammer in question is Vulcan S/N 116, originally sold to the Florida East Coat Railroad (not far … Continue reading The Best Way to Celebrate Your 120th Birthday is With a New Slide Bar Part
One of the typical information items Vulcan would send out would be the "general arrangement" (or assembly, to use the Raymond terminology) of a hammer, or a sub-assembly such as a capblock follower. These were also included in the offshore field service manuals. Sometimes they would feature the specifications of the hammer. They are useful … Continue reading General Arrangements and Assemblies
Vulcan received inquiries from all over the world about its products. One call Vulcan received until the end was about manhole covers. Although Vulcan's response was always the same (it didn't make manhole covers) the fact was that at one time Vulcan did make these humble but ubiquitous products. On both ends of the twentieth … Continue reading About Those Manhole Covers…
Very few companies can claim even a century-long existence. Not counting the Cari years, Vulcan Iron Works endured for 144 years from its founding by Henry Warrington until 1996. The portion of vulcanhammer.info focuses on the first hundred years "and then some:" the years the company was located in Chicago, 1852-1960. During this time, the … Continue reading Vulcan Iron Works: The First Century
The rest of the 1950's was an era of prosperity and transition for Vulcan. In 1955 Henry Warrington became President; Chester retired to Palm Beach two years later and died in 1961. Building the Interstate highway system was a boon to Vulcan, but it, along with the growing size range of the product line, … Continue reading After the Centennial Celebration
Note: a field service manual for these hammers is available in the vulcanhammer.info Guide, link above. Although the California series hammers were successful and a definite expansion of Vulcan's product line, they suffered from two major weaknesses: They had a sliding valve that was very difficult to manufacture. They were only suited for driving piles, … Continue reading DGH Series Hammers
George was the only one of the three Warrington brothers to marry; Chester was his only child. In 1933, with James Warrington's death, Chester inherited a company with which he had had little to do until that time. He attempted to direct it from Washington. The failure of Cord-Auburn-Duesenberg, coupled with a looming war and … Continue reading Vulcan At War
In the deep foundations industry, the Warrington family is primarily associated with Vulcan. But for many years, and especially in the half century between 1890 and 1940, a good part of the family was engaged in other activities. We invite you to visit our companion site Chet Aero Marine which goes into the family's involvement … Continue reading The Warrington Family: Broadened Horizons
Most Vulcan air/steam hammers are single acting, i.e., they rely exclusively on gravity during the ram drop to produce the kinetic energy--and thus the velocity--to drive the pile. Before World War I Vulcan had developed the #5 and the California series of hammers that gave the ram "downward assist" during descent, but the Super-Vulcan Differential-Acting … Continue reading “Super-Vulcan” Differential Acting Hammers, Closed and Open
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