This site, as it says in the masthead, is to chronicle "Vulcan Iron Works Inc. and the pile hammers it made." Every now and then, we feature new things about this old product line from Vulcan Foundation Equipment, which currently supports the line with new and used hammers, service and parts. The Vulcan 5150, first … Continue reading Vulcan 5150, Now With a Revised Design
One of the many "characters" in Vulcan's long (144 year) history was Jesse H. Perry, Vulcan's senior field service representative right up until his sudden death. As I mention elsewhere, it took a very special kind of person to do what Jess did. Construction is a high risk activity, and that's especially true with offshore … Continue reading When God Threw His Wallet on the Table
In an earlier post we presented the clearance dimensions for Vulcan onshore hammers. Above are those for the offshore hammers as well.
Once Vulcan got past designs such as this, the slide bar (the cam which turned the valve during operation) was retained in a ram using a key driven though the base of the slide bar. The slide bar interfaced with the ram using a spherical block to allow rotation of the bar, necessary to compensate … Continue reading Slide Bar Gripper
One thing Vulcan representatives got ask frequently for was a "spec sheet" for a particular hammer. This is an online answer to that question. Our pages include specifications, general arrangements of the hammers, photos and usually some history behind the hammer model. We trust that this will be helpful to you in servicing your existing … Continue reading Vulcan Hammers: Specifications and Information
Progressing from the 5100, the six (6) 5150's produced were made in 1978-9 and delivered to four customers: McDermott, Brown & Root, Raymond and Santa Fe. Their main purpose was to drive piles for the "mudslide" platforms at the mouth of the Mississippi River, which were suffering failures due to scour loads. Specifications for the … Continue reading Vulcan 5150: Specifications and Information
The 5110 was the last new model that Vulcan "produced" and was the first beneficiary of Vulcan's acquisition of Raymond technology in the early 1990's. The one and only 5110 came into being by a conversion of a 560 owned by Global Movible Offshore. This resulted in a hammer that was considerably lighter than the … Continue reading Vulcan 5110: Specifications and Information
With the success of the 560 the 5' stroke concept was taken upward with the 5100, an extension of the 3100. In addition to the longer stroke, it was Vulcan's first hammers with 120" jaws, to accommodate 96" piling. The first 5100 was sold to Brown & Root (Western Hemisphere Marine, to be formal about … Continue reading Vulcan 5100: Specifications and Information
The Vulcan 560 hammer became the "#1 of Vulcan offshore hammers," and the most popular of its offshore hammers from the 1970's onward. Yet, although today the logic of a 5' stroke hammer (especially when compared to the diesel hammers) is obvious, at the time it took a little persuading. Vulcan had adhered to the … Continue reading Vulcan 560 Hammer: Specifications and Information
With the success of the first 5' stroke hammer, the 560, Vulcan proceeded to do the same to its successful 040/340 hammers with the 540. The first 540 was produced and sold to Conmaco and delivered in 1974. Specifications are below. The hammer benefited from the many improvements in the 040 and the introduction went … Continue reading Vulcan 540 Hammer: Specifications and Information
