Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/564

* HAMMER. 510 HAMMERHEAD BAT. Works) invented, patented, and applied to the lianuuevs at Low Jloor and elsewhere what is lalk'd the "cireular Ijalaiiced valve.' He later devised for the steam looomolive a balanced slide-valve, in which, by a most ingenious ar- rangement, the valve is allowed to Uoat, as it were, in an atmosphere of steam pressing equally upon it on every side, entirely doing away with all superineiim)>ent pressure upon the val-ve, no matter what the pressure in the boiler may be. The great advantage of this invention will be apparent when it is stated that hammers are now ni.ide of such a size that if the valve were not balanced a small steam-engine would be re- quired to move it. In June, 1801, Wilson pat- ented and introduced another very important improvement, popularly known as the double- acting hiind-year motion. By this arrangement, the steam is admitted as before to raise the piston, and when it has attained the required elevation, and at the very moment when aliout to descend, by slightly increasing the travel of the hand lever (more than when working single- acting), the steam is admitted into the cylinder iiliore the piston, which accelerates and increases the intensity of the falling blow and the conse- quent capaeit}' of the hammer .so nuich that a 6-ton hammer is, by this double-action arrange- ment, increased to at least a 12% or 15 ton one. Since 1861 the chief improvements in steam h.ammers have been in the nature of mechanical improvements in detail and construction to en- able larger hanunei's to be built. A steam hammer of great size was erected at the Bethle- hem Steel Works, South Bethlehem. Pa., in 1889, to be used in forging armor plates and other large steel objects. The steam cylinder is 76 inches in diameter, and has a stroke of 16'/; feet, and the weight of the moving parts is 12,5 tons : the anvil is made up of three 22-inch iron blocks, each weighing "0 tons. This hammer, it is interesting to note, has been put out of com- mission. At Perm. Russia, there is a 50-ton hammer; at the Terni Steel Works, in Italy, one of 100 tons; at the Krupp Works at Es^en. Germany, one of 50 tons ; at Woolwich Arsenal, England, one of 25 tons: and at Le Creusot, France, one of .50 tons. Recently steam hammers have been replaced by hydraulic presses for forg- ing armor plate and similar large forgings, and they arc now seldom built in the large sizes stated above. In smaller sizes for making drop- forgings (.see Forge. Forging), and for forging the vast majoritv of smaller work, they are still extensively used. In some works compressed air is used in place of steam for operating their hammers. For a description of a class of com- pressed-air o])erated hanuners for light work, such as driving rivets, calking, etc., see Pnei- MATic Tools. The steam hammer doubtless ranks as one of the most important economic inventions of all time. HAMMER, hii'mfr. .TuLlus (1810-62). A German poet, born in Dresden. He studied juris- prudence at Leipzig, hut in 1834 made the acquaintance of Tieck and Theodor Hell by his play Das seltsame Friihstiick, and decided to de- vote himself to literature. It was largely due to him that the Schiller Society was formed at Dres- den in 1855. The early period of his literary ac- tivity was taken <ip with fiction of comparatively small value, only Einkclir nnd Umkehr (1850) deserving mention; and his dramatic attempts met with little success and had' not much worth. He is best known for his poetry: the popular collection of ])roverbs, ,Schav iiin dicli und sclnni- in dich (1S51, 33d ed. 1892). A similar didac- tic tendency is characteristic of his other lyric productions, Zi alien giiten titunden (1854); fester Grund ( 1857) ; Auf stillen Wetjen ( 1859) ; heme, Uebe, lebe (1862), all republished many times. He also published a poetic version of the Psalms, Die Psalincn der lieilif/en Hehrift ( 1801 ) ; Unter dem Halhmond (1800) ; and the religious anthology Leben und Heimat in Gott (13th ed. 1890). Consult Ende, Julius Hammer (Nurem- berg. 1872). HAMMER, The. A popular name for Judas Maccaba'us. HAMMER AND SCOURGE OF ENG- LAND, The. a popular title for William Wal- hice. HAMMER-CLOTH. A cloth which covers the driver's seat in some kinds of carriages, said to be so called from the former custom of using the bo.x as a receptacle for tools. Another ex- planation of the name is that it is a corruption of hammock-cloth, the seat which the cloth covers being formed of straps or webbing stretched be- tween two crutches, as a sailor's hammock is suspended, to secure ease of motion. A third suggestion has been made that hammer is a cor- ruption of the Dutch liemel, canopy. Hammer- cloths are usually ornamented Avith fringes, and bear the arms of the proprietor of the carriage. They are old-fashioned, and now seen only on the ceremonial carriages of royalty. HAMMERFEST, ha'mer-fest. A seaport of Norway and the most northern town in the world, "situated in latitude 70° 40' 11" N.. and longitude 23° 30' E., on the west shore of the island of Kvalo, in a barren, treeless district (Map; Norway, LI). The town is almost en- tirely built of wood. The sun is above the horizon from the 13th of May to the 29th of July. Its absence for .several months in the winter has led to the extensive introduction of electric lighting, the power being derived from waterfalls. The chief occupations of the people
 * >re the production of cod-liver oil and walrus-

hunting. There is an active trade with the Russian port of Archangel. Population, in 1891, 2188: in 1901, 2298. HAMMERHEAD, or HAMMERFISH. ( 1 ) A shark of the geinis Sphyrna, consisting of four or five species, and constituting a family. Sphyr- nida>, distinguished from all other fishes by the extraordinary form of the head, which in the adults resembles a double-headed hammer, with the eyes at the ends of the lateral extensions. The mouth is below the centre of the head. Some of the species attain a length of fifteen feet, and are very voracious. The great hammerhead {Sphyrna ziifjrvna) is found in all warm seas. occurring on the coast of the United States and Europe. These sharks are ovoviviparous, and jiroduce about 40 yoimg at a birth. See Plate of Great Sharks. (2) See Hammerkop. HAMMERHEAD BAT. An extraordinary fruit-eating bat {Hy]isi<tnnthiis monsfrosus), dis- covered about 1860 by Du Chaillu in the Gabun region of West Africa. It is about five inches long, and has the nose greatly swollen and pro-