When our son Caelan had his first birthday, his Opa introduced him to that tool-of-tools, the jackhammer.
On May 19th 1892, Charles Brady King invented the jackhammer - also known as the 'pneumatic hammer' - being only in his 23rd year.
It didn't take too long for the device to catch on - if you've ever worked a crowbar in rock, you'll understand why. Soon hat-wearing men from all over the world were embracing the technology.
The basic principle is of an air-operated piston delivering many blows per second to the drill bit, which in this case is simply moving back-and-forward (if it is spinning as well then the tool in view is not a jackhammer, but a rotary hammer).
I probably first used a jackhammer when I was 18 to dig out a hole for a septic tank. At first, working with the jackhammer seemed cool, manly. But it didn't take too long before I was beginning to feel like Tom Sawyer with his whitewashing task.
If it weren't for the persistent rattling of every bone in your body, and the exercise in endurance of keeping the hammer raised and parallel as you press it forward into a wall, I couldn't imagine anything more relaxing. Oh, and the ringing in your ears for hours afterwards.
The jackhammer is a welcome relief to the blistered hands of the crowbar days. But for all the pain they save you, some designs create new challenges to our humble physiology.
Ah, the price of progress!
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