doc Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 The Blacksmiths: 1904 | Shorpy Historical Photo Archive Click on full size to view this best. Check out the like new bulldozer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimsShip Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I love Shorpy's site! I wonder how many men were injured in those gears? Can you spot the number of safety violations by todays standards? No safety glasses No Helmets No fire extinguishers or proper signage on the exits. There must be a dozen more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrous Beuler Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Funny how surfing the web works sometimes. Just now I had an overwhelming sense of deja vu. Oh wait, I got that backwards. Never saw this site before so it was definitely vuja de, not deja vu. Then I came over to IFI and there it is, this thread with a great old image resource. Anyhoo, found a nice website with a gazillion miles of footage from days of old. Some blacksmithing stuff to be found but rather limited, thought it would be more but what they have is good. Site claims to have millions of still images but I couldn't figure out how to access the stills (only spent a few minutes there). All of their content is broadcast quality and royalty free. I put "blacksmithing" in the search box there and got a few videos listed. Most show blacksmithing as only a small portion in the featured videos but really good stuff nonetheless, worth a look. The best IMHO was the first at the top of the list. "A man at a blacksmith shop uses wrought iron for making candle stand in North California" (color, 1945, 2 min 50 sec). I'll have to go back over and ferret out how to access those "millions" of still images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 great pic 1904 ,to get a shot like that it would have been large format 6in/4in or 8in/10in film/plate size add a dark shop slow speed film in those days and poor men would have had to stay still for a good few seconds,hence the wooden poses of the smiths.thanks for the link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iron woodrow Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 love the bulldozer! i wonder where they all are now???!! :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptree Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Bull dozers are still in use and for sale on the surplus record. Most are now hydraulic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Where is the bulldozer?? :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacock Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Dodge Its the first machine on the left with 2 guys with tongs holding a big bar they have just bent. Look on the conecting rod type link coming from the large bull gear and you will see Bulldozer on it. Think of bulldozers as a huge horizontal punch press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNewman Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I went to look at a steam hammer for sale about 15 years ago. There were a couple of mechanical bulldozer presses there for sale as well. I wish I had paid more attention to then when I went. I also wish I had taken a camera with me and had taken pictures. This was in an old block (pulley) making factory. It had been closed down for about 10 years or so at the time. The owner was trying to sell the equipment to people who would use it. He was only asking $300 for the steam hammer but it was about 4-500lb and I was working out of my garage at the time. The air line going into the hammer was about 4" and came from an old riveted tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I took this pic last winter.The bulldozer is still on it's foundation where General Ironworks once stood...scrapped last summer.... :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 There is a good sized helve hammer on the right side of the photo and another upright power hammer in the left rear - behind what may be another upsetter. Also note the anvils are set at different heights; the one in the right front with the U-strap perched on it is pretty low; if the piece on the bulldozer is presumed to be hot, where is the forge they heated it in? It's also fun to look at the other details - everything I can clearly see in the building is riveted (or maybe bolted) construction. They also have glass skylites, go figure on that one - and I'd bet this shop was cold as a welldigger's ankle in the winter...my old bones hurt just thinking about it. It's interesting to note that all the men are relatively thin, no monster muscles and no guts sticking out. There's little doubt they ate and slept well after a long day and hard work kept them in shape. Obviously a production shop - wonder what they are producing? Might be bridgework or something similar since the straps and bolts are being assembled with those cast iron stands. There is also a pile of what looks like lumber in the center rear near the other hammer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kehler Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 The guys on the right side of the pic are working on railcar couplers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrous Beuler Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Funny how surfing the web works sometimes. Just now I had an overwhelming sense of deja vu. Oh wait, I got that backwards. Never saw this site before so it was definitely vuja de, not deja vu. Then I came over to IFI and there it is, this thread with a great old image resource. Anyhoo, found a nice website with a gazillion miles of footage from days of old. Some blacksmithing stuff to be found but rather limited, thought it would be more but what they have is good. Site claims to have millions of still images but I couldn't figure out how to access the stills (only spent a few minutes there). All of their content is broadcast quality and royalty free. I put "blacksmithing" in the search box there and got a few videos listed. Most show blacksmithing as only a small portion in the featured videos but really good stuff nonetheless, worth a look. The best IMHO was the first at the top of the list. "A man at a blacksmith shop uses wrought iron for making candle stand in North California" (color, 1945, 2 min 50 sec). I'll have to go back over and ferret out how to access those "millions" of still images. I forgot the link, didn't I?http://www.criticalpast.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNewman Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I don't think that is lumber. I think that is the stock they are bending in the bulldozer. They are attaching yokes to the couplers. Modern yokes are castings. I think that is a rail car bolster lying beside the coupler standing on end. Modern ones have the spring seats and center plate cast in place as opposed to the riveted on ones in the picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptree Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Bull dozers are NOT like a horizontal punch bress, but do work off a crank in the mechanicals. Think of a big slow horizontal bender. Good for production work on long parts. Great for very large U-bolts shackles and the like. They can be easily tooled with shop built tooling. It just bolts to the the big table. At Vogt we had a nice shop built baby bulldozer. Used a 36" bore air cylinder and had a 4' stroke, with a 4' wide table. Used to make all sorts of stuff for boilers, like pipe hangers shackles and the like. The skylights were in almost all buildings in that day, note that only 2 or 3 electric lamps are evident in that entire shop. Work days were dawn to dark since that was when the light was available. Many buildings had Sawtooth roofs, that had north facing windows to let in a nice difuse light, no solar heating in the summer and no glare in the eyes. At VOGT, we had about 300,000 square feet of sawtooth roof, including the 1903 machine shop, now on the National Historic Register. It had the line shafts still in the roof, but was near bare and used for bipe bending and the like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Dodge Its the first machine on the left with 2 guys with tongs holding a big bar they have just bent. Look on the conecting rod type link coming from the large bull gear and you will see Bulldozer on it. Think of bulldozers as a huge horizontal punch press. Thanks peacock I was thinking, track driven earth moving vehicle. I didn't know there was another definition. See, old farts can learn new stuff :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted T Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 On the far right of the photo, notice the blacksmith who is hand hammering with a hammer that has a handle that is very long (2 1/2' maybe?) Maybe he broke his hammer handle and is using the strikers sledgehammer? :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fciron Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 General consesus over on Practical Machinist was that the parts coming out of the bulldozer are the braces for rail-cars. This would go with the couplers being rivetted together on the other side of the photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r smith Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Great picture. P.S. Those are not skylights, look close and you will see they are windows that are wall mounted and open by pivoting half way up the sides. They are open in the photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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