[TheForge] Rivets

Fri Mar 28 06:33:00 2003

Great post Norm.

Thanks,
Walt
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, March 28, 2003 2:22 AM
Subject: [TheForge] Rivets

It must be 3 - 4 years ago now when I made a fairly long post to theforge
about
riveting on structural steel.  I worked as an ironworker in the early mid
50's around
the southern end of Lake Michigan.

For a while I worked in a riveting gang which consisted of four people--the
heater, a
catcher, a bucker, and a driver.  All the rivets I worked on at the time
were .75 dia
by whatever length needed.  The heater would keep a half dozen or more
rivets in
his forge being heated and the catcher would hit his catch can with his
pickup tongs
indicating he wanted a rivet.  The heater would pitch the rivet up and the
catcher
would catch it in a funnel and put it in the hole with his pick up tongs.
The bucker
would put the head of his bucking tool ( which was called a horse cock and
usually
had an offset head) on the rivet and the driver would drive a head on the
rivet
before it cooled too much.

The riveting gang was set up on a "point"--a place where a beam is attached
to a
column.  There would be two "floats" (pieces of 3/4" plywood with 2 x 4
framing
underneath that sticks out from the plywood and ropes are attached to the
four
corners.  These pieces of rope are lashed around the beam and the "float" is
made
horizontal and tied off.  The driver stands or kneels on one float and the
bucker and
catcher are on the other float.  Sometimes you just sit on the beams and
work off of
them.  Usually not though since this "point" might require maybe from 8 to
20 or
more rivets and all the holes must be "good" before  any rivets are driven.
Barrel
pins are driven into some of the holes to line the iron up and the point is
bolted tight
in some of the holes usually with an impact wrench.  As rivets go in bolts
and pins
come out until the "point" is all rivets.

The catcher's job is easiest since all he has to do it catch the rivets and
put them in
the hole.  The heater's job is also easy and no doubt the most skilled job
in the
gang.  The bucker and driver are earning their money.  Normally, the
catcher,
bucker, and driver change off during the day to split up the work.  Everyone
gets
paid the same.

When bolts came it seemed like it changed overnight where I was at.  Rivets
one
day and bolts the next with rivets never to be seen again. Riveting takes
four guys
in a gang and bolting up only takes two and you can stick more bolts in a
day by far
than rivets.  I'm sure that the change didn't take place the same way in all
parts of
the country and that rivets were probably used in the boilermaking and other
trades
for a lot longer than on structural steel.

If I remember, we had riveting guns that were called numbers 60, 70, 80, or
90--
getting larger as the numbers go up.  You don't want to use a number 90
since it will
wear your ass out.  The riveting head (called a "snap") was actually loose
but was
held on with a piece of wire.  But it was possible to pull the trigger and
shoot it off.
Also inside the gun was a plunger that was loose and could also shoot off if
not
careful.

I'd be in the market for a riveting gun of the smaller sizes if anyone knows
where
there might be any.  If fact I'm interested in any original riveting
equipment (except
a forge) as it used to be used.

Sorry for rambling on for so long.

Norm Larson

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