Water-powered trip hammer (forge)
Martillo hidráulico de forja
- Date
- c. 1100 · confidence medium
- Place
- Cistercian abbeys of Burgundy and Champagne, France
- Credited to
- Cistercian monks
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A large tail hammer driven by cams on a water wheel that strikes iron with a force and rhythm impossible for the human arm. It cheapened forging and allowed larger blooms to be worked.
China used hydraulic cam-driven hammers from the Han dynasty to hull rice; the European application to forging appears to be independent.
What it led to
- Cistercian hydraulic forges as the first metalworking factories in Europe
- large iron pieces for weapons, ploughs and machines
- a step towards the hydraulic bellows and the blast furnace
Built on
- Water-powered fulling millc. 1000
- Water-powered fulling mill
- Han dynasty Chinese trip hammer
Made possible
- Viking Mästermyr tool chestc. 1000
- European blast furnacec. 1200
- Full plate armourc. 1400
- European blast furnace
- Full plate armour