[TheForge] Anvils

[Bob Ehrenberger]

We had the BAM meeting last Saturday at the Ag Musem near Kansas City.  One
of the displays was an impresive collection of anvils.  They had about 300
of them and they ranged from 5 pounds to over 300 pounds.  The one thing
that was a little disturbing about the whole thing was that someone had used
an arc welder to burn a serial number into the horn on each one. I guess the
collector didn't want there to be any chance that they would ever get back
into use.

They also had a very interesting trip hammer. It was basically a 50# Mayer,
but with an interesting twist. The linkage was set up so that when you
depressed the treadle it not only enguaged the the clutch it also connected
the power to the moter.  My guess was that the clutch wouldn't disenguage,
but instead of fixing the clutch they cut the power. Or maybe electricity
was so expensive in there area they didn't want to let the motor idle.

Bob Ehrenberger
Shelbyville, Mo