The second method utilizes great steam hammers weighing 125 tons, and striking Titanic blows upon the yielding metal. The most modern method, however, is by the hydraulic press forge, now used in the shops of the Bethlehem steel works in the production of Harveyized armor plate. In [Fig. 257] is seen the great 14,000-ton hydraulic press-forge squeezing into shape a port armor plate for the battleship “Alabama.” After leaving the forge, the plate is trimmed to shape by the savage bite of a rotary saw and planer, seen in [Figs. 258] and [259], whose insatiable appetites tear off the steel like famished fiends. The plate is then taken to be Harveyized by cementation, hardening, and tempering, as seen in [Figs. 260], [261], and [262]. The 125-ton mass of metal representing the plate in the rough, and weighing more than a locomotive, is thus handled and brought to shape with an ease and dispatch that inspires the observer with mixed emotions of admiration and awe.
FIG. 258.—ROTARY SAW, CUTTING HEAVY ARMOR PLATE.
FIG. 259.—ROTARY PLANER, TRIMMING HEAVY ARMOR PLATE.
FIG. 260.—THE CEMENTATION FURNACE.