McReavy and King's pneumatic jackhammer
Martillo neumático (martillo mecánico) de McReavy y King
- Date
- 1893 · confidence medium
- Place
- Detroit, Michigan, United States
- Credited to
- William McReavy, who sold the patent to Charles Brady King
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
McReavy designed a compressed-air percussion hammer and sold the patent to Charles Brady King, who brought it to market; portable compared to the mid-19th-century mining and tunnelling rock drills, the tool became standard in construction and demolition.
The jackhammer is a cumulative innovation: steam-powered drills (Samuel Miller, 1806), percussion drills (Brunton, Couch, Fowle, 1844-1849) and pneumatic mining/tunnelling drills (Fowle 1850-51, Sommeiller 1861) preceded McReavy/King's portable version by decades; the exact date and place of the latter are poorly documented.
What it led to
- Widespread use of the jackhammer in civil works and demolition
- Derived portable pneumatic tools (riveters, percussion drills)
Built on
- Joseph W. Fowle's pneumatic drill (1850)
- Germain Sommeiller's rock drill (Fréjus Tunnel, 1861)