Steam-hammer
This powerful hammering-machine was originally invented by Mr. Nasmyth, Patricroft, England, in 1842, and is used for the purpose of beating malleable materials into the required form, etc. In its original form it consisted of an inverted cylinder, to whose piston an iron block which formed the hammer-head was attached. This hammer was raised by steam entering below the piston, and the hammer fell when the steam was allowed to escape. Steam-jet Cupola, patented by Herbertz, who claims it as one of the most important metallurgic inventions of modern times. He further says "that it will surely have a great future by reason of its enormous advantages over the systems now in use. It is not merely an improvement of the present system, but a complete revolution. "It naturally follows that there will have to be a complete change in the manner of doing business wherever smelting-furnaces are used. Up to the present time all cupolas were worked by blast-air. To produce this, complicated machinery was necessary, and large and expensive buildings. A hearth solidly built in masonry was indispensable, and this had to be hermetically sealed on account of the heavy interior pressure. "The steam-jet cupola is the exact reverse of this. It works by means of atmospheric air breathed or sucked into the furnace by a jet of steam placed in the upper part of the shaft. It has a movable hearth, which can be raised or lowered at will, and which forms with the shaft an annular opening by which the air needed for combustion is introduced. This cupola requires no motive force, and the vacuum produced in the shaft by the suction allows every stage of the smelting process to be observed by means of valves and tubes placed at different heights, thereby furnishing a convenient means of controlling the work. "The furnace and the hearth are rendered independent, the work may be carried on under perfect control, and necessary repairs can be easily and promptly attended to--a most embarrassing thing in the old furnaces with solid mured hearth. "The workings of the steam-jet cupola can be divided, accordingly, into the following groups and sub-groups: "I. Smelting of metals: 1. Smelting of pig iron; 2. Smelting of steel and malleable cast iron; 3. Smelting of other metals and metallic ores. "II. Production of metals by the reduction of their ores or slags: 1. Production of pig iron; 2. Production of lead; 3. Production of raw copper, copper-scoria, and copper-slate. "III. Calcination of ores and minerals, such as lime, dolomite, malachite, etc., for instance, minerals, demanding the expelling of carbonic acid; also, for smelting glass."