steam hammer

noun

1. a hammer for forging, operated by steam.

Word History and Origins

Origin of steam hammer¹

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

Although the court mostly upheld the legality of internet shutdowns, it also held that the state must disclose certain relevant information and that the justification must meet tests of "proportionality," a legal principle the court's decision defined with an aphorism from the British jurist Lord Diplock: "You must not use a steam hammer to crack a nut, if a nutcracker would do."

From Salon

The son of a pottery presser and a grocer, Smith attended Etruria British School before starting work at age 12 at the Etruria Forge, where he operated a steam hammer.

From BBC

Like her fellow West Virginian John Henry, the steel-driving man who faced off against the steam hammer, Katherine Johnson would soon be asked to match her wits against the prowess of the electronic computer.

From Literature

In Race Against The Machine, MIT’s Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee argue that the solution is to learn to “race with the machines;” to become less like the mythical John Henry struggling to outdo a steam hammer and more like an Indy car driver, using technology to race at incredible speed.

From Forbes

On the fast engines of the Pennsylvania Railroad solid bronze boxes, without brasses, are used, and when the boxes require truing from having cut or from having worn oval they close them under a steam hammer, closing the bore across and enabling it to be trued out in the lathe without taking much metal out of the crown of the bore.

From Project Gutenberg