Blacker power hammer questions

[Black Frog]

After cleaning up that Blacker anvil and base, I wanted to know more about the hammer itself.

I've seen several YouTube clips of them in action, but I'm wondering more about the history of the hammer.

The information on the base of the Blacker anvil I just got done restoring says "BLACKER HAMMER MCKIERNAN-TERRY CORP. DOVER, N.J., U.S.A".
Digging through the net I’ve read in historical documents that the McKiernan Drill Company built its factory in Dover, NJ in 1900. Business was good, and in 1910 they absorbed the Terry Core Drill Company becoming the McKiernan-Terry name, well known for making large pile hammers of all kinds.  I can't find reference to them making a Blacker Hammer though, but "BLACKER HAMMER" and their name is cast right there in the base.
 
On the base of another Blacker anvil I found a picture of, it says "BLACKER ENGINEERING CO. NEW YORK". 
I found reference in an old Iron Trade Review dated 1922 to that name and hammer. 
 
Then I also found this page attached below from an old blacksmithing publication that mentions the "Blacker Method", whatever that is...  But they show a picture of the hammer, and they are the Mechanical Hammer Co. LTD from Stalybridge, England.  The page is dated 1918.
 
I'm confused by all this, I'm wondering did different companies make the same Blacker hammer? 

[the iron dwarf]

I know there are quite a few blackers here, I think a friend has one at hereford, will ask next time I see him online.

[Black Frog]

Attached is the 1922 page that references the Blacker Engineering Co from NY and their hammer with picture.....

[Black Frog]

And then found this advertisement page for sale, the seller indicates the ad was from 1942.

This ad says the "Blacker Forge & Hammer Company" from Stalybridge England....
 

[njanvilman]

Just to give you a frame of reference:  My two FISHER Blacker anvils are dated 1923 and 1925.

[John B]

http://www.nevillebarnes.co.uk/about.html

 

They issued a Blacker manualwith all parts listed and drawn in them, saying they were the sole manufacturers of the Blacker Hammer, the company dating back some 70 years, and I suspect they inherited / bought the license/ to make them long after the originals were made, a patent search may reveal more if there is such a database and patent number for them.

 

I heard they were around in Victorian times, and judging by the one I used to have, I would not be at all surprised, it was run off a lineshaft originally and later adapted for an on board electric motor.

 

A friend of mine had a Blacker treadle hammer  (A type?)

 

The Blacker B type is the larger powered version with traverse on the hammer and an anvil on an adjustable base, and is capable of punching and stepping down etc without having to stop to change tooling

 

The Blacker C type has a fixed head over a base that is for general work, with usually a block with a hardy hole in that accepts tooling, which can be removed and different more specialised tooling inserted

 

There are basically five standard tools that fit in the hardie hole, a flat block, a high rise taper drawing block, a lower angled taper drawing block,  a high dome block and a lower dome block

 

Many of the Blacker B hammers I have come across have different anvils fitted to the adjustable anvil base. My theory on this is that due to the weight of the hammers, they were shipped abroad less the anvil to keep the weight down for carriage cost purposes. 

 

The Blacker hammer in the US  illustration is a bulletin from the Blacker Engineering company, Grand Central Terminal,

 

I suspect these were the import agents or even Blacker's own representatives who were marketing them, and had anvils made in the US to fit them, thus cutting transit costs whilst still selling their machinery.

 

Whatever, they are a great tool, and still working well.

[nonjic]

I have got all of the original manufacturing blue prints for the Blacker hammers, catalogues etc.

 

I can only speculate that Massey of Manchester bought them out at some point (Stalybridge is only a stones throw from Openshaw in Manchester where Massey was based for 120 years)

[Black Frog]

Found a bit more info on this!
After getting the book, "Pounding Out The Profits" by D. Freund, there was a section on the Black Hammer history.

Here's some info that answered some of my questions from my initial post:
 

....by 1944 there had evidently been some manufacture of these hammers in the United States. On July 5, 1944, the McKiernan-Terry Corporation of New York City announced that it had purchased all of the physical assets of the Black Engineering Corporation, including inventory, records, drawings, patterns, jigs, tools, and fixtures. The announcement continued: “The Blacker Hammer henceforth will be manufactured in our Dover, N.J. plant where for forty years the world’s leading Double Acting McKiernan-Terry Pile Hammers have been built…” The ultimate fate of the Blacker hammer in the United States is not known. It was manufactured by McKiernan-Terry at least through 1945, but it was listed in the Thomas’ Register of American Manufacturers for only that one year. However, the hammer continued to be built in England (perhaps as late as the 1980’s)….

So I'm guessing the Blacker anvil and base I found was from 1944 or 1945 timeframe.
Cool stuff.

[ThomasPowers]

Can you check the anvil for a serial number along the edge near the cut out?

[Black Frog]

I'll check again to be sure, but during my cleanup process of going over it several times I didn't find any markings at all.
Maybe the 1944-1945 timeframe might be why this sure looks like an unmarked Fisher anvil from what I can gather...

 

And if yours is an earlier Fisher Blacker that was used in the Blacker Engineering Co made hammers, did B.E.C. put the serial number on there, or did Fisher?

[ThomasPowers]

I've assumed it was the BEC as it's stamped in and not a part of the casting.

[Black Frog]

That's what I was thinking too. 
If that is the case, it could very well be that once McKiernan-Terry took over the manufacture of the hammers in 1944 here in the U.S. they may not have done the same procedure of serializing the anvils used with the hammers.....
I'll double check the anvil.

[ThomasPowers]

Mine is sitting about 200 miles away and it will be several weeks before I get back there to "visit"...

[Black Frog]

No serial number on the anvil.

[the iron dwarf]

at the international blacksmithing festival here last week was a blacker, it has the number 193 on the top of one casting and 1935 stalybridge on the sides,

anvil looked rough and could see no markings except the normal weight markings that were not easy to make out.

was told it was a blacker B

[Black Frog]

Thanks for the pictures!
That is the shallow side cutout anvil I've seen a few times. More non-Fisher looking.

[arftist]

I have got all of the original manufacturing blue prints for the Blacker hammers, catalogues etc.

 

I can only speculate that Massey of Manchester bought them out at some point (Stalybridge is only a stones throw from Openshaw in Manchester where Massey was based for 120 years)

John, any chance of procuring a set of prints (for a cost of course)? 

I am terribly fascinated by these and feel as though I may be required to manufacture one. 

[nonjic]

There is another company in the UK who manufacture and supply parts for the Blacker hammers (Neville Barnes Ltd) - I do not know how / if / when they started with the Blacker business.

 

I do not feel I can distribute what might be commercially sensitive information under these circumstances ! 

[arftist]

There is another company in the UK who manufacture and supply parts for the Blacker hammers (Neville Barnes Ltd) - I do not know how / if / when they started with the Blacker business.

 

I do not feel I can distribute what might be commercially sensitive information under these circumstances ! 

Thanks John, I already figured out a simpler mechanism anyway, with far less moving parts. 

Regarding your ethical viewpoint though, IMHO the patents have long expired and the drawings are available online from the patent office anyway. 

 

It is good that you have a strong sense of ethics though.

[nonjic]

Is a full set of manufacturing drawings available online ?

 

I have got a whole draw of a plan cabinet full of them !

[arftist]

Is a full set of manufacturing drawings available online ?

 

I have got a whole draw of a plan cabinet full of them !

Don't know, was just making a point. As I said before, I already simplified the mechanism to a fraction of the number of parts anyway, so it doesn't matter. 

[Alan Evans]

Quirky action, but once you get used to it very sensitive. The first blow is always heaviest but once it is cycling you can get very precise and regular blows. Almost the opposite scenario with the air hammers `I have used, which are easier to get going but most seem to generate the odd random heavier blow in the middle of the cycle.

 

I can't get rid of my Blacker. It was my first power hammer and I used it exclusively for a couple of years before I bought a Reiter. When I acquired an Alldays I let an ex assistant have the blacker on extended loan, and after a few years he moved on and it went to another of my friends who was also setting up, and he had it for the best part of 20 years. A couple of months ago I fetched it back with Benprothero on here, who is borrowing it until he gets the 2cwt Massey I sold him installed….who's next I wonder?

 

My blacker and me are a bit like Mark Twain's wise words on smoking "its easy to give up...I have done it hundreds of times!"

 

Alan

[arftist]

Quirky action, but once you get used to it very sensitive. The first blow is always heaviest but once it is cycling you can get very precise and regular blows. Almost the opposite scenario with the air hammers `I have used, which are easier to get going but most seem to generate the odd random heavier blow in the middle of the cycle.

 

I can't get rid of my Blacker. It was my first power hammer and I used it exclusively for a couple of years before I bought a Reiter. When I acquired an Alldays I let an ex assistant have the blacker on extended loan, and after a few years he moved on and it went to another of my friends who was also setting up, and he had it for the best part of 20 years. A couple of months ago I fetched it back with Benprothero on here, who is borrowing it until he gets the 2cwt Massey I sold him installed….who's next I wonder?

 

My blacker and me are a bit like Mark Twain's wise words on smoking "its easy to give up...I have done it hundreds of times!"

 

Alan

Hmm, so even though you can't let your first love go, you can live without her just fine?

 

What model possesses you so, pray tell?

[Alan Evans]

Mine is a non-traverse Blacker "C".

I always reckon the C is more robust than the B because of the close coupled side frames and short spindles. Less loss of power through whip. And mine is especially so because it has much thicker heavier hammer shafts than any other blacker I have seen. Whether because it was an early model or it was a later owner-modification or repair I know not.

Alan Knight the smith I trained with had a B and I could not really see the point in the traverse and the big anvil. It took forever to traverse. I could change the bottom plain pallet for the one with hardy hole very quickly on mine and then bottom tool changes could be made as fast as you like. I made up a wrap around top tool which clamped on the top block and presented a bit of half round (handrail section) to mimic the top cheese fuller of the Reiter type hammers. With a cheese fuller in the hardy hole it worked very efficiently. The only things you had to be aware of were to make sure you put the first blow somewhere where it would not hurt :) and that the hammer head face whilst always parallel to the anvil is on an arc rather than straight down...sort of a rolling blow. Better than a helve type but not so predictable/precise as a vertical ram.

I will see if I can find some photos of it.

Alan

P.s. Interesting point. Did I mean I can't bring myself to get rid of it or that whatever I do it just keeps coming back? The truth probably lies somewhere in between. :)