[TheForge] ALT Treadle Hammer Springs

[Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer]

Neat idea Paul!
One could use a big hairy old cylinder for the guides and it's 
piston for the tup.
The only problem i can see would be overcoming piston ring friction.
Having gone that far, might as well add a pressure release valve 
to the treadle...grin...pf

paul wrote:
> Some years ago while bench forging, the blacksmith equivalent of bench 
> racing in gearhead circles, I suggested that an air spring might be a 
> good way to replace the springs in a treadle hammer. Steve White of UMBA 
> had a treadle hammer that used a 6" or 8" steel pipe for the backbone of 
> the hammer. Since the pipe was sealed at both ends it made a perfect air 
> reservoir. The idea was to use an air cylinder in place of the spring, 
> and connect that to reservoir with a volume about 100 times as large as 
> the displacement of the air cylinder. When the system is inflated to a 
> sufficient pressure to raise the hammer, the force to move the hammer 
> would not change much on the down stroke, as the volume of the air 
> reservoir is many times that of the cylinder. Steve reported that it 
> worked. I don't know if he is still using this system, but it might be 
> worth considering. By supplying the reservoir with a small air regulator 
> you can adjust the force required to move the hammer head, and by 
> diddling the ratio of the two, cylinder to reservoir, you can alter the 
> increase of force that is required to move the hammer throughout its 
> range to suit.
>