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44 now made as stampings without welds. Steel castings have also superseded much of the wrought iron work formerly done by the blacksmiths.

Stamping Shop. Stampings are made in dies under drop hammers. In these hammers the tup or weight is raised by ropes connected to a rotary steam cylinder placed at the top of the hammer girders, and falls by gravity on to the work, which is placed on the anvil. The pieces made under these hammers are generally much smaller than the forgings produced under steam hammers, and consist of various brackets, links, pistons, parts of valve motion, spring links and hangers, hooks, bell crank levers, hand wheels, spanners, etc. Drop hammer stampings are much cleaner and nearer to shape and size than blacksmiths’ forgings, and less work is required in machining and finishing them in the machine and fitters’ shops. Fig. 15 shows the stamping