Oliver Hammer

[Bentiron1946]

I was reading an article on nail making in England and they kept referring the an "oliver hammer". I did a Google search and it kept referring me back to the article I was reading. I found a partial photo of one from Google pictures and one engraving. Nowhere on Google was I Forge Iron mentioned. Today as I was perusing the Blueprint section and I found BP0186 Oliver, the Hammer. I want to know if anyone else has built one of these and how do you like it?

[HWooldridge]

An oliver is a treadle hammer. They are quite useful (see Clay Spencer's work), especially for the lone smith.

[irnsrgn]

If you want to see a true Oliver Hammer not a treadle hammer in use go to the second video here, http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/chain-making-videos-2641/

[habu68]

Here is another about half way down the page listed as a treadle hammer Old Sturbridge

[Bentiron1946]

Irnsrgn, Thanks for the link to the film. That helps a lot. That sure explained the function of an oliver a lot better then the article on nail making did. The word oliver means foot operated so a treadle hammer as shown in Old Sturbridge Village is not an oliver hammer but a mill powered hammer or trip hammer. Thanks again.

[ThomasPowers]

The Studebaker blacksmith shop where SOFA used to meet had a commercially build oliver from back when. IIRC "Practical Blacksmithing" by Richardson has some 19th century tips on building your own.

[Bentiron1946]

Thanks, maybe I don't need to build a helve hammer, just an oliver and have my son stomp on it:D

[habu68]

I have seen some other pictures of the hammer at Old Sturbridge and if I remember right it was foot operated, board to the left of the picture is the return "spring" and the support under the hammer relieves the pressure on the spring when it is not in use. Most trip hammers were much more massive.

[Frosty]

Oliver is a company name, they made lots of other equipment besides the hammers.

Oliver has come to be the general term used for a simple helve type treadle hammer. By simple I mean a single swing arm, return mechanism and treadle. Many Oliver hammers could be mounted behind your existing anvil and swung into or out of position for use. Others had integral anvils.

Many of the Oliver hammers were incredibly complex for how they worked. There were lots of claims for increased mechanical advantage in the ads though I don't see how adding components would make it hit harder.

More modern treadle hammers use two swing arms to keep the hammer parallel to the anvil throughout it's stroke. Oliver hammers swung through the arc so the farther from the anvil the farther out of parallel the hammer and anvil are.

Even more modern treadle hammers use guides or Watt linkage designs to keep the hammer not only parallel but traveling in line. The straight up and down movement allows for the use of dies for a more versatile hammer.

With the increased precision comes increased complexity. An Oliver being the simplest is the simplest and easiest to build at the other end of the spectrum would be something like the Grasshopper designed by Bruce Freeman which requires lots of time and precision to fab up.

An Oliver type hammer can be as simple as a sledge hammer hinged to a post by it's handle with enough bungee cords to lift it and a rope loop for a treadle.

Frosty

[iron woodrow]

in a catalogue from 1911 (which i will post picutes from eventually) i found a woodcut of a steam operated oliver hammer. it seems to have a head mounted on a y shaped arm, with a steam mechanism acting on the arm, the only reason i call it an 'oliver' is because that is what it is reffered to as in the article.

[r smith]

I remember seeing one of the old chainmaking videos had a shot of the guy making the chain using an oliver to weld the links.
I will try to find it.

[JHCC]

For those happening upon this thread after the links all broke, here is the video in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRPos5uyy0A