TABLE OF CONTENTS The function of all metalworking machinery can be described as that of a force-producing mechanism which delivers its required output in a certain period of time with a predetermined amount of accuracy. The amount of the force and its method of application are not always consistent. Rolling machines apply a constant and uniform force toward a bar of steel, while drop hammers produce a single blow in a unit of time. The same amount of force may be divided into many smaller hits and distributed over a longer time period by the pneumatic hammer.
When classifying metalworking machinery according to the way it functions, there are two basic types of distinction:
Machines with linear movement of their tools, such as presses, certain rolling machines, wire and bar-drawing, and stretching machines
Machines utilizing nonlinear movement of tooling, such as bending and rolling machines, the rolling application being either longitudinal or cross rolling in type
In further evaluation of metalworking machinery, the scope of this problem is restricted to presses.
Presses can be evaluated with regard to their function as
Energy-producing machines, with the application of this energy being abrupt and instantaneous. All the machine's energy storage is depleted at the end of its work cycle. Such machines are hammers, which use a "free fall" principle as a basis of their function. However, sometimes their efficiency is increased by an addition of steam or pressurized air. The hammers' energy source...
