It is with this post that we wish you a Merry Christmas. This year 2024 is the sixtieth anniversary of Vulcan's relocation of its headquarters from Chattanooga to West Palm Beach, FL. Although we cover that history elsewhere on this site, this is a brief summary in photos of that part of the company's history. … Continue reading Merry Christmas from vulcanhammer.info
The issue of slide bars, full and short stroking and blow rate have always been central to the proper "certification" and operation of Vulcan hammers. In this post we will take a "bare bones," basic approach to the dynamics of the problem with the most basic automatic hammer of all: a single-acting air/steam hammer, in … Continue reading The Basics of Setting the Cut-Off Point for a Vulcan Single-Acting Hammer
In the earlier post Tapered Keys and Their Use In Vulcan Hammers we had a general discussion of tapered keys, the theory behind them and their application in Vulcan hammers. In this post we'll look at one specific application--the Vulcan 560 Slide Bar Key--and see how Coulombic friction applies in this case of a self-locking (hopefully) … Continue reading An Example of a Self-Locking Wedge: the Vulcan 560 Slide Bar Key
A common problem in elementary statics is picking up a load with a sling. It's an important one in heavy lifting, and Vulcan certainly experienced a great deal of that. We're going to look at an example: the Internal Pile Hammer IPH-16. It's shown with its skid on the truck above; we're going to look … Continue reading An Example of Balancing a Sling Picked-Up Load: the IPH-16
Editor's Note: This monograph was produced by Petro-Dynamics, Lafayette, LA. It was undated; it probably was produced in the early 1980's and was disseminated at the Offshore Technology Conference. Although it is around four decades old, the basic concepts of the Case Method and CAPWAP are still in use today. One thing that surprises is … Continue reading Dynamic Measurement of Piles
The whole point of impact pile driving is for a moving mass to be stopped "suddenly" and in the process generate a high peak force impulse which moves the pile into the soil. Pile dynamics people tend to emphasise the force on the pile head, while hammer manufacturers tend to emphasise the peak force of … Continue reading So What is the Force of the Ram?
The recent (apparent) sabotage of the NordStream gas line from Russia to Germany--and the effects of the loss of Russian energy to Europe--is a reminder to some of us of some fairly recent history about Europe and energy that bears repeating. Europeans used to be a lot better about remembering history than Americans, but it … Continue reading There Was a Good Reason To Develop North Sea Oil and Gas
In many ways, the world we live in is a different place from when Vulcan went offshore fifty to sixty years ago. Some of the issues remain, such as energy independence and security. But others, in the U.S. at least, have been banished from the public square. One of those issues is smoking. I duly … Continue reading The Smelliest Cigars of Them All
Vulcan always tried to be responsive to the needs of its customers. Sometimes, however, the way they wanted to do things got in the way of progress, and the Key Ball Cushion Ring was a good example of that in action. Vulcan had used the "standard pot" to hold its cushion material from the beginning … Continue reading Key Ball Cushion Ring
Proud of a job well done: Jesse Perry (left) and Norris Tremmier stand in front of a 3100 hammer they have just completed assembling in a customer's own yard. The 3100 hammer was the last 3' stroke hammer Vulcan produced for the offshore market; compared to the 560 with the same energy, it was heavy … Continue reading Shortages and Supply Chains, Then and Now
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