petere76 Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Gentlemen, While on a training exercise we utilized an old Liberty Ship in Baltimore, SS John Brown, I came across this vintage anvil of unknown manufacture just foreward of the after deck house. The anvil was in great shape, painted for protection and mounted on a oak stump which in turn was bracketed and welded to the deck. It was certainly large in dimension. Given the number of these vessels produced in the war effort, there must have been a sizeable gov contract with some manufacturer of the day. It was a great find. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy k Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 That's a very nice looking Fisher anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 I think there was a fisher who was an admiral in the navy or something like that. He steered the governments business to his relatives company from what I understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Sure looks like a Fisher, Peter. On a different note, my Brother was in the Navy on a sub tender. He mostly worked in the casting shop and as a training exercise they cast anvils and other similar things. He said all the anvils on ships were cast inhouse but I wouldn't bet on it, especially during a war. Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 My Fisher is an ex-Navy anvil. The old boy I bought it from bought it from a ship salvage yard in San Francisco. He said they had a "boat load" of them taken off of decommissioned ships that were being scrapped. One of the skills that the Navy used to teach was foundry work but they were never in the kind of production to produce an anvil for ever ship. On board my ship we had a real nice anvil. The machinist had to have something to set his coffee mug on. No wooden stump either, not allowed on board except for damage control timbers, to much of a fire hazard, had a nice square metal base. Over on the USS Oklahoma they had a really big anvil in the machine shop, all painted up nice an gray, even on top. I guess they didn't use it much for anything. <_< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 I think there was a fisher who was an admiral in the navy or something like that. He steered the governments business to his relatives company from what I understand. Clark Fisher took over Fisher & Norris upon the death of his father, Mark Fisher, in 1870. Clark was a top Naval Engineer for the Union Army during the Civil War, and stayed active in the Reserves after the war. He left service to run the Eagle Anvil works. Fisher Anvils were the only large manufacturer in the states at that time. Most other anvils in this country were English. Clark Fisher was able to write the GSA specs for anvils so that Fisher anvils were the "prefered" ones. Every naval vessage large enough to have a machine shop had a Fisher anvil for the next hundred years. Fisher owes their survival to Government contracts for 50 to hundreds of anvils in one order. It is not suprising that a Fisher anvil is still on a historic vessel. I am sure that there are still many floating around the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 Nice shirt too (grin) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petere76 Posted October 17, 2010 Author Share Posted October 17, 2010 Glen and co, Love those shirts,,, "ho-ah" my brothers. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 Clark Fisher took over Fisher & Norris upon the death of his father, Mark Fisher, in 1870. Clark was a top Naval Engineer for the Union Army during the Civil War, and stayed active in the Reserves after the war. He left service to run the Eagle Anvil works. Fisher Anvils were the only large manufacturer in the states at that time. Most other anvils in this country were English. Clark Fisher was able to write the GSA specs for anvils so that Fisher anvils were the "prefered" ones. Every naval vessage large enough to have a machine shop had a Fisher anvil for the next hundred years. Fisher owes their survival to Government contracts for 50 to hundreds of anvils in one order. It is not suprising that a Fisher anvil is still on a historic vessel. I am sure that there are still many floating around the world. From the mouth of the expert, :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Falzone Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 My Fisher is an ex-Navy anvil. The old boy I bought it from bought it from a ship salvage yard in San Francisco. He said they had a "boat load" of them taken off of decommissioned ships that were being scrapped. One of the skills that the Navy used to teach was foundry work but they were never in the kind of production to produce an anvil for ever ship. On board my ship we had a real nice anvil. The machinist had to have something to set his coffee mug on. No wooden stump either, not allowed on board except for damage control timbers, to much of a fire hazard, had a nice square metal base. Over on the USS Oklahoma they had a really big anvil in the machine shop, all painted up nice an gray, even on top. I guess they didn't use it much for anything. I wonder if those naval salvage yards still have all those anvils. Bentiron do you know the name of any naval salvage yards? It would be interesting to find out. Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.