The process of forging small articles of iron on the blacksmith's anvil is well known. Hand work of this kind is very expensive for making intricate shapes and is a slow process even for making simple shapes. Various processes have been employed to shape iron articles in quantity which will be at least as good in quality and less expensive than forgings made by hand. One of the processes so employed is drop forging. By this means, a great variety of forgings of plain and intricate shapes can be produced in large quantities far cheaper and possibly better than by means of hand forging. Drop forgings must be needed in large quantities to warrant making a pair of dies, as these are expensive.

A drop forging is made by the drop of a heavy hammer on a piece of hot iron held by a workman on the anvil of the machine. The hammer carries a die which shapes the upper half of the forging, and the anvil holds another die which shapes the lower half.

Fig. 84. - Drop Hammer.