Steam Hammer

Here is a Steam Hammer, a heavy piece of machinery used in the ship building industry. This one is a Rigby's patent Glen and Ross Engineers No 872 from 1886 and stands as a piece of sculpture I guess next to the Ferguson's shipyard at Port Glasgow.

We can only wonder at the wall of noise that must have reverberated up and down the river as these behemoths hammered away at the steel plate that went to make so many great ships. It again makes me wonder about the men who spent their days working with this machine, the height of technology of its time I suspect.

I was not able to find out anymore about this particular one but it stands as a monument to the men and the industry that has long since passed. I loved the way it has weathered down the patina is amazing save for the bit of graffiti, but there is no respect shown by a mindless few to what this machine symbolises.