A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, and breaking up objects. In Engineering, Woodworking and Construction, a nail is a pin -shaped sharp object of hard Metal, typically Steel, Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. Usual features are a handle and a head, with most of the weight in the head. The basic design is hand-operated, but there are also many mechanically operated models for heavier uses.
The hammer is a basic tool of many professions, and can also be used as a weapon. For the tabletop games see Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40000. By analogy, the name hammer has also been used for devices that are designed to deliver blows, e. g. in the caplock mechanism of firearms. The caplock mechanism or "percussion" lock was the successor of the Flintlock mechanism in Firearm technology and used a Percussion cap struck A firearm is a Tool that projects either single or multiple Projectiles at high velocity through a controlled explosion
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History
The use of simple tools dates to about 2,400,000 BCE when various shaped stones were used to strike wood, bone, or other stones to and break them apart and shape them. Stones attached to sticks with strips of leather or animal sinew were being used as hammers by about 30,000 BCE during the middle of the Paleolithic Stone Age. The term Paleolithic (or Palaeolithic) (from Greek παλαιός palaios, " Old " and λίθος Lithos, "stone" Its archeological record means it is perhaps the oldest human tool known.
Designs and variations
The essential part of a hammer is the head, a compact solid mass that is able to deliver the blow to the intended target without itself deforming.
The opposite side of a ball as in the ball-peen hammer and the cow hammer. A ball-peen (or ball-pein, see Spelling differences; also known in Europe and North America as ball pane) hammer is a type of Peening Some upholstery hammers have a magnetized appendage, to pick up tacks. In the hatchet the hammer head is secondary to the cutting edge of the tool. See Hatchet (novel for the Young adult novel. See Hatchet (film for the Horror film.
In recent years the handles have been made of durable plastic or rubber. The hammer varies at the top, some are larger than others giving a larger surface area to hit different sized nails and such,
Popular hand-powered variations include:
- carpenter's hammers (used for nailing), such as the framing hammer and the claw hammer
- upholstery hammer
- construction hammers, including the sledgehammer
- drilling hammer - a lightweight, short handled sledgehammer
- Ball-peen hammer, or mechanic's hammer
- cross-peen hammer, or Warrington hammer
- mallets, including the rubber hammer and dead blow hammer. Framing hammers, used for framing wooden houses are heavy duty rip Hammers with a straight claw A claw hammer is a Tool primarily used for pounding nails into or extricating nails from some other object An upholstery hammer (also called a tack hammer) is a lightweight Hammer used for securing Upholstery fabric to furniture frames using tacks A sledgehammer is a Tool consisting of a large flat head attached to a Lever (or handle A ball-peen (or ball-pein, see Spelling differences; also known in Europe and North America as ball pane) hammer is a type of Peening A mallet is a type of hammer with a head made of softer materials than the Steel normally used in hammerheads so as to avoid damaging a delicate surface A dead blow hammer is a specialized Mallet helpful in minimizing damage to the struck surface and in controlling striking force with minimal rebound from the striking surface
- Splitting maul
- stonemason's hammer
- Geologist's hammer or rock pick
- lump hammer, or club hammer
- gavel, used by judges and presiding authorities in general
- Tinner's Hammer
 Cross-peen hammer |
 Rubber mallet |
 Wooden mallet |
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 Stone tapping hammer |
 Perforated hammer head of stone |
 Long cross-face hammer (blacksmithing) |
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 Twist hammer (blacksmithing) |
 Dog-head hammer (blacksmithing) |
 Straight pane sledgehammer |
Mechanically-powered hammers often look quite different from the hand tools, but nevertheless most of them work on the same principle. A Stonemason's hammer has one flat traditional face and a short or long Chisel -shaped blade A geologist's hammer is a Hammer used for geological purposes A lump hammer or club hammer is a heavy one-handed Hammer with a double-faced head A gavel is a small ceremonial Mallet commonly made of Hardwood, typically fashioned with a handle and often struck against a sound block to enhance its A claw hammer is a Tool primarily used for pounding nails into or extricating nails from some other object Framing hammers, used for framing wooden houses are heavy duty rip Hammers with a straight claw A geologist's hammer is a Hammer used for geological purposes An upholstery hammer (also called a tack hammer) is a lightweight Hammer used for securing Upholstery fabric to furniture frames using tacks A ball-peen (or ball-pein, see Spelling differences; also known in Europe and North America as ball pane) hammer is a type of Peening A mallet is a type of hammer with a head made of softer materials than the Steel normally used in hammerheads so as to avoid damaging a delicate surface A sledgehammer is a Tool consisting of a large flat head attached to a Lever (or handle A ball-peen (or ball-pein, see Spelling differences; also known in Europe and North America as ball pane) hammer is a type of Peening A sledgehammer is a Tool consisting of a large flat head attached to a Lever (or handle They include:
- jackhammer
- steam hammer
- trip hammer
- hammer drill, that combines a jackhammer-like mechanism with a drill
In professional framing carpentry, the hammer has almost been completely replaced by the nail gun. A pneumatic drill or jackhammer is a portable percussive Drill powered by Compressed air. A steam hammer is a power-driven hammer used to shape Forgings It consists of a hammer-like piston located within a cylinder A trip hammer (alt helve hammer) is a massive powered Hammer, usually raised by a Cam and then released to fall under the force of gravity. A Hammer drill, also known as a "rotary hammer" or "roto-hammer" (see also rotary hammer drill) is a rotary Drill with a hammering action A drill (from Dutch Drillen) is Framing, in construction known as light frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members usually called studs, which provide a stable A carpenter (builder is a skilled craftsman who performs carpentry - a wide range of Woodworking that includes constructing buildings, A nail gun, nailgun or nailer is a type of Tool used to drive nails into Wood or some other kind of material In professional upholstery, its chief competitor is the staple gun. Upholstery is the work of providing Furniture, especially seats with Padding, springs Webbing, and fabric or Leather A staple gun or powered stapler is a hand-held Machine used to drive heavy metal staples into wood or Masonry.
Tools used in conjunction with hammers
- Woodsplitting wedge - hit with a sledgehammer for spiting wood. A wedge is a triangular shaped tool a compound and portable Inclined plane, and one of the six classical Simple machines It can be used to separate
- Woodsplitting maul - can be hit with a sledgehammer for splitting wood.
- Masonry star drill
- Chisel
- Punch
- Anvil
The physics of hammering
Hammer as a force amplifier
A hammer is basically a force amplifier that works by converting mechanical work into kinetic energy and back. A chisel is a Tool with a characteristically shaped Cutting edge (such that wood chisels have lent part of their name to a particular grind) of blade on An anvil is a manufacturing tool made of a hard and massive block of stone or metal used as a support for Chiseling and Hammering other objects such as in In Physics, a force is whatever can cause an object with Mass to Accelerate. Generally an amplifier or simply amp, is any device that changes usually increases the amplitude of a signal. In Physics, mechanical work is the amount of Energy transferred by a Force. The kinetic energy of an object is the extra Energy which it possesses due to its motion
In the swing that precedes each blow, a certain amount of kinetic energy gets stored in the hammer's head, equal to the length D of the swing times the force f produced by the muscles of the arm and by gravity. Muscle (from Latin musculus, diminutive of mus "mouse" is contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the Gravitation is a natural Phenomenon by which objects with Mass attract one another When the hammer strikes, the head gets stopped by an opposite force coming from the target; which is equal and opposite to the force applied by the head to the target. If the target is a hard and heavy object, or if it is resting on some sort of anvil, the head can travel only a very short distance d before stopping. An anvil is a manufacturing tool made of a hard and massive block of stone or metal used as a support for Chiseling and Hammering other objects such as in Since the stopping force F times that distance must be equal to the head's kinetic energy, it follows that F will be much greater than the original driving force f — roughly, by a factor D/d. In this way, great strength is not needed to produce a force strong enough to bend steel, or crack the hardest stone.
Effect of the head's mass
The amount of energy delivered to the target by the hammer-blow is equivalent to one half the mass of the head times the square of the head's speed at the time of impact (
). While the energy delivered to the target increases linearly with mass, it increases geometrically with the speed (see the effect of the handle, below). Speed is the rate of motion, or equivalently the rate of change in position often expressed as Distance d traveled per unit of High tech titanium heads are lighter and allow for longer handles, thus increasing velocity and delivering more energy with less arm fatigue than that of a steel head hammer of the same weight. Titanium (taɪˈteɪniəm is a Chemical element with the symbol Ti and Atomic number 22 As hammers must be used in many circumstances, where the position of the person using them cannot be taken for granted, trade-offs are made for the sake of practicality. In areas where one has plenty of room, a long handle with a heavy head (like a sledge hammer) can deliver the maximum amount of energy to the target. But clearly, it's unreasonable to use a sledge hammer to drive upholstery tacks. Thus, the overall design has been modified repeatedly to achieve the optimum utility in a wide variety of situations.
Effect of the handle
The handle of the hammer helps in several ways. It keeps the user's hands away from the point of impact. It provides a broad area that is better-suited for gripping by the hand. Most importantly, it allows the user to maximize the speed of the head on each blow. The primary constraint on additional handle length is the lack of space in which to swing the hammer. This is why sledge hammers, largely used in open spaces, can have handles that are much longer than a standard carpenter's hammer. The second most important constraint is more subtle. Even without considering the effects of fatigue, the longer the handle, the harder it is to guide the head of the hammer to its target at full speed. Most designs are a compromise between practicality and energy efficiency. Too long a handle: the hammer is inefficient because it delivers force to the wrong place, off-target. Too short a handle: the hammer is inefficient because it doesn't deliver enough force, requiring more blows to complete a given task. Recently, modifications have also been made with respect to the effect of the hammer on the user. A titanium head has about 3% recoil and can result in greater efficiency and less fatigue when compared to a steel head with about 27% recoil. Handles made of shock-absorbing materials or varying angles attempt to make it easier for the user to continue to wield this age-old device, even as nail guns and other powered drivers encroach on its traditional field of use.
War hammers
The concept of putting a handle on a weight to make it more convenient to use may well have led to the very first weapons ever invented. For the tabletop games see Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40000. The club is basically a variant of a hammer. A club (also known as cudgel, baton, truncheon, night stick, and bludgeon) is among the simplest of all weapons In the Middle Ages, the war hammer became popular when edged weapons could no longer easily penetrate some forms of armour. For the tabletop games see Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40000.
Symbolic hammers
The hammer is associated with West Ham United, who are nicknamed 'The Hammers' and have a symbol of two crossed hammers on the team crest. } West Ham United Football Club is an English football club based in Upton Park, London Borough of Newham, East London, who have played The origin of this goes back to the club's beginning in the 19th Century, when the Thames Ironworks company football team turned professional in 1895, and became renamed as West Ham United. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar Year 1895 ( MDCCCXCV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Two hammers crossed is a mining symbol.
The hammer, being one of the most used tools by Homo sapiens, has been used very much in symbols and arms. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus In the Middle Ages it was used often in blacksmith guild logos, as well as in many family symbols. The most recognised symbol with a hammer in it is the Hammer and Sickle, which was the symbol of the former Soviet Union. The hammer and sickle is a part of Communist symbolism and its usage indicates an association with Communism, Communist Party, or Communist state The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The hammer in this symbol represents the industrial working class (and the sickle the agricultural working class). The hammer is used in some coat of arms in (former) socialist (or pseudo socialist) countries like East Germany. The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state
In Norse Mythology, Thor, the god of thunder and lightning, wields a hammer named Mjolnir. Norse mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and Legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland Thor ( Old Norse: Þórr) is the red-haired and bearded God of Thunder in Germanic paganism and its subset Norse paganism Many artifacts of decorative hammers have been found leading many modern practitioners of this religion to often wear reproductions as a sign of their faith.
"The Hammer" is also the nickname of David Thoresen, a fight club member, who is also known as "Thor".
In the 1982 film Pink Floyd The Wall, a circular logo featuring two crossed hammers was used on armbands, flags, and banners during the fascist rally scene. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Pink Floyd The Wall is a 1982 Musical film by British director Alan Parker based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album These hammers were also featured in the famous "marching hammers" animation loop and the video for "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)". " Another Brick in the Wall " is the title of three songs set to variations of the same basic theme on Pink Floyd 's 1979 Concept album,
The Beatles song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is about a fictional serial killer named Maxwell Edison whose murder weapon is a silver hammer. The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960 "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a song by The Beatles, from the Abbey Road album with Paul McCartney singing lead
MC Hammer's 1990 hit "U Can't Touch This" popularised the term "Hammer Time" as a cue for dancing. MC Hammer (born Stanley Kirk Burrell; March 30, 1962) is an American MC most popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s known for his " U Can't Touch This " was MC Hammer 's most widely-known single, propelling sales of its album Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em, which
The song If I Had a Hammer has been a top ten hit and was considered an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. " If I Had a Hammer ( The Hammer Song)" is a song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays. The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music (in Music theory and religious contexts or more generally a song (or composition of See also Protests of 1968 Historically the civil rights movement was a concentrated period of time around the world of approximately twenty years (1960-1980 in It has been recorded by many artists, including Peter, Paul, and Mary, Trini Lopez, and Leonard Nimoy. Peter Paul and Mary (often called PP&M) are a musical group from the United States who were one of the most successful folk-singing groups of the Trini Lopez (born Trinidad López III, 15 May 1937, Dallas, Texas) is a Mexican-American Singer and Guitarist Leonard Simon Nimoy (born March 26, 1931) is an American Actor, Film director, Poet, Musician and The song begins:
- If I had a hammer I'd hammer in the morning
- I'd hammer in the evening all over this land
- I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out warning
- I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
- All over this land
In ultimate frisbee, the hammer is a commonly used overhead throw that is thrown vertically and turns over to land upside down horizontally.
External links
- Hammer types images and descriptions.
- The Hammer Museum The world's only museum about the place of the hammer in human history.
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