SS John Brown, WWII Liberty Ship Anvil

[petere76]

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

[jeremy k]

That's a very nice looking Fisher anvil.

[Timothy Miller]

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.

[Frosty]

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.

[Bentiron1946]

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. <_<

[njanvilman]

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.

[Glenn]

Nice shirt too (grin)

[petere76]

Glen and co,

Love those shirts,,, "ho-ah" my brothers.

Peter

[Timothy Miller]

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, :)

[Sam Falzone]

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