February 16, 2016 • 30 mins
It's likely that without the invention of the pneumatic jackhammer, the Industrial Revolution wouldn't have hummed along quite so smoothly. Certainly a lot more trains would go around mountains than through them. Learn about this essential tool here.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode is brought to you by square Space. Start
building your website today at square space dot com. Enter
our offer code stuff at check out to get ten
percent off square Space. Build it beautiful. Welcome to Stuff
you Should Know from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey,
(00:23):
you're welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W.
Chuck Bryant, and Jerry's over there, which means time for
Stuff you should know. The Jackhammer edition coming at you.
That's right, the most annoying, one of the most annoying sounds.
I know you hate the leaf flower. Yeah, it's established.
(00:44):
I think the leaf jack camera right there? If sure, Yeah,
but we don't live in New York. If we lived
in New York, jackhammera B number one. I feel like
I've never stayed in a hotel in New York where
there wasn't a jack below me, not even a chance.
Every single time leaf blower. It's a lot more frequent
down here in Atlanta than Jack Cameron. A lot of
(01:06):
leaf blowers in New York City, not a lot of leaves. Well,
that's not necessarily true. Been some where you are. Uh
so we don't usually um shout out to thank you
at the beginning of an episode. But we got a
couple of gifts that are so special we want to
do that. So Peter O'Donnell in the gang at built
(01:27):
Sharp knives. B I LT Sharp out of Philly. H
sent us sent me a chef's knife, sent you a
filet knife. Beautiful and it's one of the most gorgeous
pieces of like handmade craftsmanship I've ever seen. It's amazing.
I cannot wait to catch a fish. Oh dude, I
(01:49):
can't wait for that for you cut that thing open
after it's dead. Uh really, you can't lock the head
off while it's still alive, and you're supposed to. You're
supposed to hit it with a hammer. I think some
people do. Um, I do not. These things are gorgeous.
I mean the blade itself, I mean they hand make these,
(02:09):
the handle, the weight, it's just it's a piece of art.
And not only that, it is the sharpest thing I've
ever seen in my life. It's like dangerous. Um, well,
I don't want to you know, it's dangerous. They're knives.
They're supposed to be sharp, but wield it with respect.
Well yeah, well they're respectable knives. Um. You can actually
(02:32):
go into Tumbler. You can just search hashtag knives. You
should know one word and it uh it chronicles and
pictures and short captions or brief captions the process of
them making our knives. It's awesome. Yeah, it's just really neat.
And I just love like handcrafting and forging steel, like
those are lost arts in a lot of ways, and um,
(02:53):
they're doing it right man, They're really beautiful. So anyway,
thank you, Yeah, thank you guys. Yeah, thanks people. Was
really cool. So jack hammers, yeah, jack hammers. If they
were sharpest built sharp knives, they'd be onto something. But
I don't know if it would work quite the same
not so. Um, yes, it's true, we are actually talking
about jack hammers. And yes, it's true that jack hammers
(03:18):
are about what you think they are. But they're also
kind of interesting when you start to look into them,
right yeah, well yes, so think about I didn't realize this.
This article points it out. Jack hammer is a hammer
and a chisel, but it's a hardcore hammer and chisel. Yeah,
and it takes out of the equation largely the human
who's back and shoulder muscles have to be involved in
(03:41):
every single strike of that hammer. And chisel. You're talking
John Henry and the sledge hammer. Yes, exactly, because prior
to the advent of the jackhammer, about that fifties, by
the turn of the last century, we had jack hammers
kind of down pat um. It was sledge hammers and
(04:02):
pick axes to remove rock. It was a real deal.
That was like it killed people, like it literally could
kill you with that kind of work. Yeah, I mean,
mining is still a very dangerous job, but pre Industrial
Revolution mining was no fun um, dangerous, deadly, and even
(04:24):
if you didn't die, it's just brutal, brutal back baking work,
baking work, slinging a sledgehammer. Yeah, you ever slung a
sledge It's the worst. It's it's hard work. You ever
used the jackhammer? No, I haven't. It's awful. Well, that's
the thing. It's it's better than the sledgehammer. Yeah, well
in some ways, but it's brutally difficult. It is. It's
(04:45):
probably one of the most brutal tools you can use
on any kind of site and for any kind of project.
There aren't that many tools that they're they're gonna take
as much out of you as the jackhammer. It's tough
on your body. Yeah, because they weigh about a hundred pounds,
like a new normal heavy duty jackhammer weighs about a
hundred pounds. You have to hold it in place upright,
(05:05):
because you don't want to jumping around, although it's probably
not going to anyway. It's it's designed not to jump around,
but you still have to. Um. You want to kind
of keep it in a fairly confined area, which means
you're using your muscle to steady it while it's going
up and down at a very very fast rate. Some
of those things, um impact with the ground one thousand
(05:27):
times a minute. Yeah, it's tough. It's it's the only
tool that and the hardwood floor UM skimmer, you know,
like the orbital floor cleaner. You can use that on it,
like put a standing pad on a hardwood floor, and
that thing and the sledge hammer. The only time I've
ever used tools that I felt like we're controlling me
(05:49):
and not me, not controlling the tool until you get it.
Once you get it, it's a little better. But at first,
when you first start to use it. You can rent
a jackhammer, you know, so you know, yeah, I mean,
if you want to bust up your driveway, you can
go do it yourself. If you're a fool, make sure
that you don't need the driveway anymore before you do that.
But um, once you get the hang of it, you
(06:09):
kind of can wield it a little bit. But it's tough.
I mean, it feels like I have no power or
control over this thing, right, I can imagine you know. So, Um,
it is a very difficult tool. But again, the alternative
is early death. And the other alternative, which is to
call someone to do it for you, is the best
(06:31):
option of the three. But so, say that you are um,
King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia and the years about eighteen
thirty something eighteen forty, and you want a train tunnel
built through a mountain, and the tunnel is gonna need
to be twelve kilometers long. You do call somebody else,
(06:53):
but that somebody else you call goes. I don't know
what to tell you, buddy. We could try pick axes
or whatever, but you're not still gonna be alive by
the time we finished. What can we do? And actually,
this call for a twelve kilometer long tunnel through a
mountain in Sardinia prompted the early um, the early forays
into developing pneumatic tools like a jackhammer. Yeah, in eighty
(07:17):
eight it got named Jonathan Couch built a what he
called a percussion drill, and this had a bit that
was it went through the piston of a steam engine,
so it was piston driven. Then, uh, contemporary Joseph Foul
actually attached it to the piston and then he started
in one using air which is pneumatic to power it.
(07:40):
But these were still attached to a piston. And it
wasn't until Charles Brady King when he actually has given
credit for inventing the traditional looking handheld, modern pneumatic powered jackhammer. Right,
and he gets a lot of credit for stuff that
was already built. Like a lot of people say he
(08:02):
was actually the inventor of the automobile. No he wasn't. Well,
he was the inventor of the gasoline powered automobile, No
he wasn't. He was the first guy in Detroit to
build and drive one around, and he did end up
inspiring and mentoring Ransom Olds and Henry Ford and some
other early car manufacturers and is almost single handily responsible
for making Detroit motor city. This guy, but he also
(08:25):
Stanley right, Uh, and what's from with it's freely. I
like that guy's stuff. What do you mean didn't he
get kicked out of Kiss? Oh? I think he was
sort of not invited back. Yeah. I think it's a
money move. They don't have to pay the nameless other
guitar player nearly as well. He was a founder of
the band, Right, How do you get kicked out like
(08:46):
that for money? I think Paul Stanley and Jean Simmons
probably own Kiss Incorporated. I know anyway, Um, Charles Brady King, Uh,
he wait Detroit on the map as far as auto
manufacturer goes. And he did do a lot of refining
of pneumatic tools, including the jackhammer, and he does hold
(09:08):
the pattern, he did hold the patent for it. Yeah,
and he had been at a lot of stuff. He
was a sharp guy. And the pneumatic the fact that
it's pneumatic, which means air powered, compressed air powered. Um
is the reason why most jackhammers today are still compressed
air powered. It's because of the mining application of it.
(09:30):
Like when you mind, you're releasing a lot of potentially
explosive gases, and uh, you can't have something like a
steam engine that's combustion powered down there yeah, or you
can't have an engine in there releasing exhaust. Um, and
you can't have a jackhammer that will spark a rock. Um. Well,
(09:53):
that might happen no matter what. Right, well, no, that's
what I'm saying. You can't have that among volatile gases.
Right You've air driven is the perfect key, because it
doesn't matter if that hoses a thousand feet long, You're
not gonna lose power because it's gonna be Yeah, it's
gonna be compressed air up against compressed air, and up
on the surface. You've got a diesel engine that's powering
(10:15):
a piston, just like in your car, and the piston
moves up and down the cylinder. As it moves down,
it compresses the air in the cylinder and pushes it
down into a storage tank where it sits his compressed
air and that's released out the other end through the
hose and it ends up into the jackhamer. And yeah,
no matter how far away it is, it's still going
to be just as powerful. And that compressed air is inflammable.
(10:37):
So you can be a happy minor all the live
long day. Well, buddy, you're getting excited. So that means
we need to take a break and uh, put this
pill under your tongue and we'll come back right after this.
(11:07):
How you feeling now, Relax good? I love the title
of this next section, Air powered destruction. Um. You can
get an electric jack hammer. If you've ever gone to
a hardware store, they have these kind of smaller handheld
jack hammers that, um, you can take up like your
(11:28):
bathroom floor tile pretty well with it plugging into the wall.
Has a little chisel bit on the end of it. Um,
But that's small. Beans. You can't do a driveway or
concrete or asphalt with with something like that tunnel through
a mountain in Sardinia. No, you need the big T
shaped jack camera. And here's one of the things that
(11:49):
didn't really occur to me. One of the reasons it
works so well is because it's so heavy. Right. It's
not like they say, well, let's make this thing way
fifteen pounds or twenty pounds and make it easier to run,
which they probably could. Yeah, you maybe could do that,
but it would jump all over the place. Yeah, you
want that thing super super heavy because that's part of
the power and forced behind it. That's right. So these
(12:09):
things are pneumatic, right, and just like on the compressed
air compressor up on the surface. When you're down in
the mine, they actually have a jackhammer, has a piston
in a piston in a cylinder in it, right, and
it's it's actually a really kind of simple When you
cut the thing open and draw a cross section of it,
(12:31):
which we did on our hands for crib sheets. Um,
you you you can see that. Really the whole mechanism
comes down to a trigger valve, right, that's right. So
what you have here is you got the pressure chamber.
The compressed air enters that chamber activates the trigger valve,
and it just because of the compressed air opens and
(12:52):
shuts really fast, right, and so the trigger valve moves
the air either above the piston or when it closes,
the air goes down below the piston, which means chisel
goes up, chizzle goes down, right, because the piston is
striking the top of that chisel bit, driving it downward
when the compressed air comes in and pushes the piston down.
(13:13):
And then when the valve closes and the air goes
underneath the piston, there's also a spring in there that
brings the drill bit back up because it wouldn't work
very well if you knock it down. They had to
go down and reset it, and apparently the earliest um,
the earliest jackhammered had that very designature that was it
(13:34):
like it goes bam and then you definitely like reset
it bam and then reset it and they're like, this
isn't gonna work. Yeah, that's sort of like the pneumatic
cattle punch that they that what's his face used in
No Country for old Man. It's exactly like that. Not
very good if you're trying to bust up concrete, but
good if you want to put on a cow's It
(13:57):
doesn't stunn them. It does the eternal stunt. I think
it's stuns a cow and then they kill them. Oh
I thought it they put it into the brain to
kill the cow. I don't think he actually, I think
it can and probably does sometimes, but I think the
main purpose of it is to stun the cow, so
it's not like it's just dazed and out of it
when it when they kill it. Oh yeah yeah. Uh.
(14:21):
Hydraulic jack hammers, it's the same, uh jackhammera would kill
a cow. Hydraulics use fluid, same principle, but it doesn't
use air. And if you've ever seen the they have
jackhammers you can that are really large that you can't
handle as a person. That it's like attached to a
bacco or something that's for big, big jobs. And those
(14:41):
are usually um hydraulic and pneumatic, but probably not every time.
I'm sure someone in the construction industry will correct me
on that. Well, I went and looked. And if you
go on Alibaba that you know that's I has everything
and they have hydraulic jackhammers for sale. What's Ali Baba?
That sky Mall it's like China's Amazon, but they sell
(15:04):
everything on it. It's nothing like Skymall. Do you think
everything's like Skymallas because you want Skymall to come back?
That sure do? Um, But they it did seem like
all of the back ho attached um jack hammers were
hydraulic that I saw. All right, Well, um, here's what
happens at a thousand hits per minute. That chisel bit
(15:29):
and if you're breaking up rock, there are different kinds
of bits. A pointy bit if you're breaking up like
a driveway or something is really good, or you can
use a flat bit for other applications. So, yeah, if
you're breaking up a driveway and all you want is
for the driveway to go bye by, Yeah, the pointy
bits the one you want because it's not a controlled cut.
The the like a flathead screw drivers style bit is
(15:53):
the kind that where you can really kind of control
where the cracking goes, right, or if you wanna uh,
like I said, if you're taking up your floor tile
and you have the handheld version, that's what you want
to discoot it underneath the tile and chip it up.
And there's actually there's like, um, some insane mathematicians have
actually like tried to figure out how you can predict
(16:14):
how cracks propagate. Yeah, there's like a um for the
most efficient jackhammering pretty much like what bit will work best,
and like where to place it and how to how
to use it. But um, one of the things that
I didn't understand before is that when you are jackhammering,
you you are creating different types of uh uh flaws
(16:39):
basically in this solid stay concrete structure, right, And when
you're doing that, the first flaw you're doing, the first
flaw you're creating is this um kind of surface powder
that the the initial chips you're making are actually powder
rizing and and congealing around the drill bit, right, and
that powder actually transmit it's the impact of the jackhammer
(17:02):
throughout the rest of the concrete pad in that immediate area,
and that actually starts to create cracks. So you think, well,
it's just the drill bit creating crack it gets in
there enough. Actually no, it's it's generating like these different
materials from the very concrete itself, and it's using those
materials to distribute the force and create cracks that ultimately
(17:25):
start to spread and propagate. And as they spread and propagate,
they get bigger and bigger, and then a chip comes off,
and when the chip comes off, the amount of force
that's generated and there goes down again and you have
to build it back up by more jackhammering. But eventually
these larger cracks that you're making come together and then
big chunks break off. And then when a big chunk
breaks off, you want somebody to come in and clear
(17:48):
the chunks away while you move the jackhammer, because you're
just gonna be breaking up those chunks. And that's not
the point of jackhammer anymore. Now. The point is you're
trying to remove whatever material in his bigger pieces can
be removed, you know, like by like a bacco with
a bucket or something. Um. Obviously it can't be too
big because you might have to break up in the
(18:08):
smaller bits. But you don't want a three million little
tiny rocks at the end of it, right, you're not
breaking it into gravel. No. The machines that do that, um,
some of these things actually uh, when when you create
a crater, that's good, but you don't want your crater
full of junk. So some of them actually have air
or water that blasts the stuff clear as you're going,
(18:32):
which is pretty neat too. Yeah, which is a it's
a big that's an issue because the stuff that that
dust that accumulates, that forms what's called the crushed zone,
that powder that distributes the force um is actually can
be a health hazard. And there's actually a lot of
health hazards with jackhammers. Uh. And we'll talk about them
(18:54):
right after this, all right, Josh, health hazards of jackhammering. Um,
(19:19):
that dust is no joke. Well, before we go to
health hazards, let me say this. What you and actually
can be a health hazard. It can be dangerous when
you get your bit stuck. Um. And the general rule
of thumb is you don't want to put the bit
farther down. You don't want to keep going down farther
than the length of the bit, because if you get
your bit stuck, then it's really tough to get back out. Yeah.
(19:42):
And while it may give you a little break, your
boss isn't gonna be happy, or if you're renting that
thing by the hour at your house, you're not gonna
be happy. Yeah, because you just used all of the
force of that compressed air to jam that that chisel
bit several inches into concrete. Yes, it's you need like
King Arthur to get that out. Yea, So moving around
(20:03):
um inches at a time, so it doesn't go straight
down into one spot. And you want a sharp bit
as well. Obviously a dull bit is gonna get stuck
easier and it's not going to break up the material
as well, exactly. Um. And like you said at the
beginning that jackhammers one of the noisiest tools around. It's
the worst. It might be the noisiest tool. Jack hammers
(20:25):
um create a noise at about a hundred and thirty
decibels from what this article says. Yeah, that is the
that is the sound of a jet engine taking off.
That's how that's how loud those things are and driving here,
no joke. I passed the dude using a jack camera
(20:46):
and he wasn't wearing ear protection. You know. I was
just about to say, is I bet you've never seen
a jackhammer operator not use ear protection? I never have
until today. That's nuts. Isn't that a weird coincidence? Though?
It is totally weird and like just dumb. He's like screwed.
I got health insurance. Uh, construction headphones are a must. Um.
(21:07):
And because we're talking about how how much it wears
you out. If you're on a road crew, Um, you're
probably gonna be rotating out jackhammer duty. It's not like Chuck,
You're on the jackhammer for ten hours today for the
rest of your life. Yeah. Yeah, And it's a it's
a real thing. Like people who use jackhammers as their profession,
(21:28):
they do face a lot of problems. That dust is
you know already mentioned that, but concrete has a silica
and that's been proven to cause lung cancer, and so
a lot of these jackhammers will have a like a
water sprayer at the end of them that just constantly
is introducing water that keeps the dust on the ground
and like a puddle. All right, And what's the different
(21:50):
or the deal with this. I know you didn't get
a chance to look at it, but you sent a
pretty interesting thing on the negative effects of vibration on
the human body. Yeah, it's weird. What's the deal there?
So vibrations are very odd. They used to belong in
the realm of Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain. They
did a lot of research in the effects of vibration
(22:12):
on the body and it does everything from cause insomnia
to digestive issues to motion sickness. And this is bad vibration.
I mean there's also like good vibrations. There's also good, good,
good vibrations. There's there's vibrations that that that that vibrated
a certain frequency certain hurts and I don't remember what
(22:32):
it is, but it's like a low it's like a
low frequency vibration. And there's there's something called whole whole
body vibration which UM. Apparently GM is dealing with the
problem right now. They have like their their largest UM.
I guess maybe they're tahoe or something, but they're large SUVs.
(22:53):
They had to really strengthen the cage so that if
it rolled over, it wouldn't crush the the bottom of
the truck wouldn't crush the roof. But the thing is
so rigid that when it goes at like highway speeds,
it vibrates that this this frequency that's perfect and it's
giving the driver's motion sickness. So yeah, there's all this
(23:13):
weird stuff that happens from vibrations and exposure to vibrations,
and so that's whole body. There's also hand arm vibration
and um there's something called rayn nodes phenomenon and it's
basically like your hands being exposed to vibrations for that
many hours out of a day. And this can happen
(23:34):
too if you're if you're working with like a gas
powered weed whacker all the time, or but especially if
jackhammer operators going to run into this, this circulation gets
basically cut off from all the the exposure vibration in
your fingers and it can get so bad, especially when
it's cold out, that they just turn white. It's called blanching.
They loosensation. If you're lucky, if you're not lucky, there's
(23:55):
a tremendous amount of pain in them. You can't grip things.
And if you're a jackhammer operator, that's a big problem
because you need to be able to grip the jackhammer. Yeah.
And um, I mean weird psychological issues brought on from
like fatigue and that constant noise, headaches in the insomnia
that can all lead to you know, you're kind of
losing it a little bit. Uh. Yeah, you never really
(24:17):
thought about that, all of it put together. It's called
vibration sickness. And we're only now just starting to like
really understand it. Uh. Shrapnel is also a danger, of course. Um.
And and these are you know, if you're on a
construction site, you know all this stuff. But since you
can go out and rent a full fledged jackhammer because
you want to take out your driveway this weekend, I
(24:39):
think a lot of people go into it lightly. Like
I've seen those things on the road. I can do that,
be careful, like don't do it and flip flops or
tennis shoes. You know, get get your big heavy hobnail boot.
It's the great Larry Munson said, put those on. Get
your ear protection where I protection, wear long pants and
(25:01):
you know, don't be a dummy. It all seems like
basic safety issues. But yeah, I bet you there's been
a dude with short pants and a flip flops they
tried to jackhammer something. Jack hammeron right there is it'll happen. Oh.
They also important thing too. If you're doing this at home, um,
and you don't like your sidewalk um that leads to
(25:24):
your house, get the electrical and gas companies out there.
And I don't even think they charged for it, or
they might, but they'll they'll come out there with a
little spray can and they will show you and draw
paint on the ground where your gas lines and your
power lines are. Because you do not want to jack
cameront either of those not fun. Be careful, don't be
a dummy. Well that's ours a huh. Jack hammers the
(25:49):
most interesting tool on the on the planet. Oh. I
actually got one more thing, believe it or not. What uh?
In two thousand because these things are so loud, you know, Uh,
the Department of Energies Brookhaven National Laboratory released a helium
jack camera called the Raptor, and it had some of
these things come with rubber boots to try and soften
(26:11):
the noise, but I don't think they do a great job.
Um this thing actually less than the noise to eighty
seven decibels. That's like nothing, nothing, that's like how loud
I'm talking right now. But apparently it never like caught on.
Then in two thousand eleven, another equipment maker had an
electric model that said it's faster than Newmatic and it's
(26:31):
only a hundred decibles and they have sold a few.
But apparently, like breaking into the construction industry with a
new type of tool is super hard to do. I
think in New York especially, they were very resistant. The
unions were like, really won't work, We're not using those.
That seems like where they should do it, because um
I looked it up. Apparently six of noise complaints and
(26:55):
from in New York City we're Jackhammers. That's almost thirty
four thousand complaints in a year, Jack Camering, New York
and supposally you're not supposed to do it after six
or before seven am, but there they allow it in
certain cases. And I feel like that is like, is
(27:16):
all the case is chuck in a hotel nearby? Then
do it started five that's all I got. Uh. If
you want to know more about Jack Cameras, you can
type that one word into the search bar at how
stuff works dot com. And since I said Jack Camera,
it's time for listener Now, I'm gonna call this cool
(27:36):
program for kids in Austin, Texas. Oh yeah, I hope
you guys are doing well. I've been listening to the
show for for some time. Like to thank you for
giving me the edge on many debates and discussions. I
live in Austin, Texas and I'm writing today let you
know about a program I recently started working for, but
I think you'll appreciate. It's called a Totally Cool, Totally
Art t C t A. It is a free after
(27:58):
school program does to reach out to us youth and
give them some exposure to the arts. The class I
teach is called the Art of Machines, and we build
various contraptions. We have sent you an example project, which
we call bugs that the students building our class. Did
we get this in yet? I don't think all right,
(28:19):
I don't think i've seen this Brian so he sent it?
Awhile ago, Oh he did? If you did, I don't
know if we got it. No, we haven't got in yet.
All right, So if it's recent Brian, then it's on
the way. If not, then send it again. That was
one of a kind. Uh see what you think about
is the prototype? I hope not. He said, my dogs
(28:40):
go crazy for these things. Uh. This is the actual
anniversary of the program. We're trying to let people know
about it so it can be around for another twenty years.
We also have other classes painting, film, fiber arts, and photography. Anyway,
I was just hoping maybe you'd give a quick shout
out for totally cool totally art in Austin. It's so
totally cool and you can just look that up on
(29:02):
Google or go to uh h T T P S
colon slash slash Austin Texas dot g O B slash
t C t A. That's nice lass to secure site.
Yeah that's from Brian fry Tag and good work, buddy.
And we're gonna be in Austin for south By Southwest
this year. Yeah. Do you know if they're if we're
gonna be selling tickets or if there's like a registry
(29:23):
or what. I don't know. We'll find out and let
everyone know. But I believe it's going to our deal
live podcasts going down Sunday night, and um, but we're
gonna be around cool town cool look out for us
Sunday night. Okay, indeed, uh. If you want to get
in touch of this, you can tweek to us at
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(29:45):
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This episode is brought to you by square Space. Start
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percent off square Space. Build it beautiful. Welcome to Stuff
you Should Know from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey,
(00:23):
you're welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W.
Chuck Bryant, and Jerry's over there, which means time for
Stuff you should know. The Jackhammer edition coming at you.
That's right, the most annoying, one of the most annoying sounds.
I know you hate the leaf flower. Yeah, it's established.
(00:44):
I think the leaf jack camera right there? If sure, Yeah,
but we don't live in New York. If we lived
in New York, jackhammera B number one. I feel like
I've never stayed in a hotel in New York where
there wasn't a jack below me, not even a chance.
Every single time leaf blower. It's a lot more frequent
down here in Atlanta than Jack Cameron. A lot of
(01:06):
leaf blowers in New York City, not a lot of leaves. Well,
that's not necessarily true. Been some where you are. Uh
so we don't usually um shout out to thank you
at the beginning of an episode. But we got a
couple of gifts that are so special we want to
do that. So Peter O'Donnell in the gang at built
(01:27):
Sharp knives. B I LT Sharp out of Philly. H
sent us sent me a chef's knife, sent you a
filet knife. Beautiful and it's one of the most gorgeous
pieces of like handmade craftsmanship I've ever seen. It's amazing.
I cannot wait to catch a fish. Oh dude, I
(01:49):
can't wait for that for you cut that thing open
after it's dead. Uh really, you can't lock the head
off while it's still alive, and you're supposed to. You're
supposed to hit it with a hammer. I think some
people do. Um, I do not. These things are gorgeous.
I mean the blade itself, I mean they hand make these,
(02:09):
the handle, the weight, it's just it's a piece of art.
And not only that, it is the sharpest thing I've
ever seen in my life. It's like dangerous. Um, well,
I don't want to you know, it's dangerous. They're knives.
They're supposed to be sharp, but wield it with respect.
Well yeah, well they're respectable knives. Um. You can actually
(02:32):
go into Tumbler. You can just search hashtag knives. You
should know one word and it uh it chronicles and
pictures and short captions or brief captions the process of
them making our knives. It's awesome. Yeah, it's just really neat.
And I just love like handcrafting and forging steel, like
those are lost arts in a lot of ways, and um,
(02:53):
they're doing it right man, They're really beautiful. So anyway,
thank you, Yeah, thank you guys. Yeah, thanks people. Was
really cool. So jack hammers, yeah, jack hammers. If they
were sharpest built sharp knives, they'd be onto something. But
I don't know if it would work quite the same
not so. Um, yes, it's true, we are actually talking
about jack hammers. And yes, it's true that jack hammers
(03:18):
are about what you think they are. But they're also
kind of interesting when you start to look into them,
right yeah, well yes, so think about I didn't realize this.
This article points it out. Jack hammer is a hammer
and a chisel, but it's a hardcore hammer and chisel. Yeah,
and it takes out of the equation largely the human
who's back and shoulder muscles have to be involved in
(03:41):
every single strike of that hammer. And chisel. You're talking
John Henry and the sledge hammer. Yes, exactly, because prior
to the advent of the jackhammer, about that fifties, by
the turn of the last century, we had jack hammers
kind of down pat um. It was sledge hammers and
(04:02):
pick axes to remove rock. It was a real deal.
That was like it killed people, like it literally could
kill you with that kind of work. Yeah, I mean,
mining is still a very dangerous job, but pre Industrial
Revolution mining was no fun um, dangerous, deadly, and even
(04:24):
if you didn't die, it's just brutal, brutal back baking work,
baking work, slinging a sledgehammer. Yeah, you ever slung a
sledge It's the worst. It's it's hard work. You ever
used the jackhammer? No, I haven't. It's awful. Well, that's
the thing. It's it's better than the sledgehammer. Yeah, well
in some ways, but it's brutally difficult. It is. It's
(04:45):
probably one of the most brutal tools you can use
on any kind of site and for any kind of project.
There aren't that many tools that they're they're gonna take
as much out of you as the jackhammer. It's tough
on your body. Yeah, because they weigh about a hundred pounds,
like a new normal heavy duty jackhammer weighs about a
hundred pounds. You have to hold it in place upright,
(05:05):
because you don't want to jumping around, although it's probably
not going to anyway. It's it's designed not to jump around,
but you still have to. Um. You want to kind
of keep it in a fairly confined area, which means
you're using your muscle to steady it while it's going
up and down at a very very fast rate. Some
of those things, um impact with the ground one thousand
(05:27):
times a minute. Yeah, it's tough. It's it's the only
tool that and the hardwood floor UM skimmer, you know,
like the orbital floor cleaner. You can use that on it,
like put a standing pad on a hardwood floor, and
that thing and the sledge hammer. The only time I've
ever used tools that I felt like we're controlling me
(05:49):
and not me, not controlling the tool until you get it.
Once you get it, it's a little better. But at first,
when you first start to use it. You can rent
a jackhammer, you know, so you know, yeah, I mean,
if you want to bust up your driveway, you can
go do it yourself. If you're a fool, make sure
that you don't need the driveway anymore before you do that.
But um, once you get the hang of it, you
(06:09):
kind of can wield it a little bit. But it's tough.
I mean, it feels like I have no power or
control over this thing, right, I can imagine you know. So, Um,
it is a very difficult tool. But again, the alternative
is early death. And the other alternative, which is to
call someone to do it for you, is the best
(06:31):
option of the three. But so, say that you are um,
King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia and the years about eighteen
thirty something eighteen forty, and you want a train tunnel
built through a mountain, and the tunnel is gonna need
to be twelve kilometers long. You do call somebody else,
(06:53):
but that somebody else you call goes. I don't know
what to tell you, buddy. We could try pick axes
or whatever, but you're not still gonna be alive by
the time we finished. What can we do? And actually,
this call for a twelve kilometer long tunnel through a
mountain in Sardinia prompted the early um, the early forays
into developing pneumatic tools like a jackhammer. Yeah, in eighty
(07:17):
eight it got named Jonathan Couch built a what he
called a percussion drill, and this had a bit that
was it went through the piston of a steam engine,
so it was piston driven. Then, uh, contemporary Joseph Foul
actually attached it to the piston and then he started
in one using air which is pneumatic to power it.
(07:40):
But these were still attached to a piston. And it
wasn't until Charles Brady King when he actually has given
credit for inventing the traditional looking handheld, modern pneumatic powered jackhammer. Right,
and he gets a lot of credit for stuff that
was already built. Like a lot of people say he
(08:02):
was actually the inventor of the automobile. No he wasn't. Well,
he was the inventor of the gasoline powered automobile, No
he wasn't. He was the first guy in Detroit to
build and drive one around, and he did end up
inspiring and mentoring Ransom Olds and Henry Ford and some
other early car manufacturers and is almost single handily responsible
for making Detroit motor city. This guy, but he also
(08:25):
Stanley right, Uh, and what's from with it's freely. I
like that guy's stuff. What do you mean didn't he
get kicked out of Kiss? Oh? I think he was
sort of not invited back. Yeah. I think it's a
money move. They don't have to pay the nameless other
guitar player nearly as well. He was a founder of
the band, Right, How do you get kicked out like
(08:46):
that for money? I think Paul Stanley and Jean Simmons
probably own Kiss Incorporated. I know anyway, Um, Charles Brady King, Uh,
he wait Detroit on the map as far as auto
manufacturer goes. And he did do a lot of refining
of pneumatic tools, including the jackhammer, and he does hold
(09:08):
the pattern, he did hold the patent for it. Yeah,
and he had been at a lot of stuff. He
was a sharp guy. And the pneumatic the fact that
it's pneumatic, which means air powered, compressed air powered. Um
is the reason why most jackhammers today are still compressed
air powered. It's because of the mining application of it.
(09:30):
Like when you mind, you're releasing a lot of potentially
explosive gases, and uh, you can't have something like a
steam engine that's combustion powered down there yeah, or you
can't have an engine in there releasing exhaust. Um, and
you can't have a jackhammer that will spark a rock. Um. Well,
(09:53):
that might happen no matter what. Right, well, no, that's
what I'm saying. You can't have that among volatile gases.
Right You've air driven is the perfect key, because it
doesn't matter if that hoses a thousand feet long, You're
not gonna lose power because it's gonna be Yeah, it's
gonna be compressed air up against compressed air, and up
on the surface. You've got a diesel engine that's powering
(10:15):
a piston, just like in your car, and the piston
moves up and down the cylinder. As it moves down,
it compresses the air in the cylinder and pushes it
down into a storage tank where it sits his compressed
air and that's released out the other end through the
hose and it ends up into the jackhamer. And yeah,
no matter how far away it is, it's still going
to be just as powerful. And that compressed air is inflammable.
(10:37):
So you can be a happy minor all the live
long day. Well, buddy, you're getting excited. So that means
we need to take a break and uh, put this
pill under your tongue and we'll come back right after this.
(11:07):
How you feeling now, Relax good? I love the title
of this next section, Air powered destruction. Um. You can
get an electric jack hammer. If you've ever gone to
a hardware store, they have these kind of smaller handheld
jack hammers that, um, you can take up like your
(11:28):
bathroom floor tile pretty well with it plugging into the wall.
Has a little chisel bit on the end of it. Um,
But that's small. Beans. You can't do a driveway or
concrete or asphalt with with something like that tunnel through
a mountain in Sardinia. No, you need the big T
shaped jack camera. And here's one of the things that
(11:49):
didn't really occur to me. One of the reasons it
works so well is because it's so heavy. Right. It's
not like they say, well, let's make this thing way
fifteen pounds or twenty pounds and make it easier to run,
which they probably could. Yeah, you maybe could do that,
but it would jump all over the place. Yeah, you
want that thing super super heavy because that's part of
the power and forced behind it. That's right. So these
(12:09):
things are pneumatic, right, and just like on the compressed
air compressor up on the surface. When you're down in
the mine, they actually have a jackhammer, has a piston
in a piston in a cylinder in it, right, and
it's it's actually a really kind of simple When you
cut the thing open and draw a cross section of it,
(12:31):
which we did on our hands for crib sheets. Um,
you you you can see that. Really the whole mechanism
comes down to a trigger valve, right, that's right. So
what you have here is you got the pressure chamber.
The compressed air enters that chamber activates the trigger valve,
and it just because of the compressed air opens and
(12:52):
shuts really fast, right, and so the trigger valve moves
the air either above the piston or when it closes,
the air goes down below the piston, which means chisel
goes up, chizzle goes down, right, because the piston is
striking the top of that chisel bit, driving it downward
when the compressed air comes in and pushes the piston down.
(13:13):
And then when the valve closes and the air goes
underneath the piston, there's also a spring in there that
brings the drill bit back up because it wouldn't work
very well if you knock it down. They had to
go down and reset it, and apparently the earliest um,
the earliest jackhammered had that very designature that was it
(13:34):
like it goes bam and then you definitely like reset
it bam and then reset it and they're like, this
isn't gonna work. Yeah, that's sort of like the pneumatic
cattle punch that they that what's his face used in
No Country for old Man. It's exactly like that. Not
very good if you're trying to bust up concrete, but
good if you want to put on a cow's It
(13:57):
doesn't stunn them. It does the eternal stunt. I think
it's stuns a cow and then they kill them. Oh
I thought it they put it into the brain to
kill the cow. I don't think he actually, I think
it can and probably does sometimes, but I think the
main purpose of it is to stun the cow, so
it's not like it's just dazed and out of it
when it when they kill it. Oh yeah yeah. Uh.
(14:21):
Hydraulic jack hammers, it's the same, uh jackhammera would kill
a cow. Hydraulics use fluid, same principle, but it doesn't
use air. And if you've ever seen the they have
jackhammers you can that are really large that you can't
handle as a person. That it's like attached to a
bacco or something that's for big, big jobs. And those
(14:41):
are usually um hydraulic and pneumatic, but probably not every time.
I'm sure someone in the construction industry will correct me
on that. Well, I went and looked. And if you
go on Alibaba that you know that's I has everything
and they have hydraulic jackhammers for sale. What's Ali Baba?
That sky Mall it's like China's Amazon, but they sell
(15:04):
everything on it. It's nothing like Skymall. Do you think
everything's like Skymallas because you want Skymall to come back?
That sure do? Um, But they it did seem like
all of the back ho attached um jack hammers were
hydraulic that I saw. All right, Well, um, here's what
happens at a thousand hits per minute. That chisel bit
(15:29):
and if you're breaking up rock, there are different kinds
of bits. A pointy bit if you're breaking up like
a driveway or something is really good, or you can
use a flat bit for other applications. So, yeah, if
you're breaking up a driveway and all you want is
for the driveway to go bye by, Yeah, the pointy
bits the one you want because it's not a controlled cut.
The the like a flathead screw drivers style bit is
(15:53):
the kind that where you can really kind of control
where the cracking goes, right, or if you wanna uh,
like I said, if you're taking up your floor tile
and you have the handheld version, that's what you want
to discoot it underneath the tile and chip it up.
And there's actually there's like, um, some insane mathematicians have
actually like tried to figure out how you can predict
(16:14):
how cracks propagate. Yeah, there's like a um for the
most efficient jackhammering pretty much like what bit will work best,
and like where to place it and how to how
to use it. But um, one of the things that
I didn't understand before is that when you are jackhammering,
you you are creating different types of uh uh flaws
(16:39):
basically in this solid stay concrete structure, right, And when
you're doing that, the first flaw you're doing, the first
flaw you're creating is this um kind of surface powder
that the the initial chips you're making are actually powder
rizing and and congealing around the drill bit, right, and
that powder actually transmit it's the impact of the jackhammer
(17:02):
throughout the rest of the concrete pad in that immediate area,
and that actually starts to create cracks. So you think, well,
it's just the drill bit creating crack it gets in
there enough. Actually no, it's it's generating like these different
materials from the very concrete itself, and it's using those
materials to distribute the force and create cracks that ultimately
(17:25):
start to spread and propagate. And as they spread and propagate,
they get bigger and bigger, and then a chip comes off,
and when the chip comes off, the amount of force
that's generated and there goes down again and you have
to build it back up by more jackhammering. But eventually
these larger cracks that you're making come together and then
big chunks break off. And then when a big chunk
breaks off, you want somebody to come in and clear
(17:48):
the chunks away while you move the jackhammer, because you're
just gonna be breaking up those chunks. And that's not
the point of jackhammer anymore. Now. The point is you're
trying to remove whatever material in his bigger pieces can
be removed, you know, like by like a bacco with
a bucket or something. Um. Obviously it can't be too
big because you might have to break up in the
(18:08):
smaller bits. But you don't want a three million little
tiny rocks at the end of it, right, you're not
breaking it into gravel. No. The machines that do that, um,
some of these things actually uh, when when you create
a crater, that's good, but you don't want your crater
full of junk. So some of them actually have air
or water that blasts the stuff clear as you're going,
(18:32):
which is pretty neat too. Yeah, which is a it's
a big that's an issue because the stuff that that
dust that accumulates, that forms what's called the crushed zone,
that powder that distributes the force um is actually can
be a health hazard. And there's actually a lot of
health hazards with jackhammers. Uh. And we'll talk about them
(18:54):
right after this, all right, Josh, health hazards of jackhammering. Um,
(19:19):
that dust is no joke. Well, before we go to
health hazards, let me say this. What you and actually
can be a health hazard. It can be dangerous when
you get your bit stuck. Um. And the general rule
of thumb is you don't want to put the bit
farther down. You don't want to keep going down farther
than the length of the bit, because if you get
your bit stuck, then it's really tough to get back out. Yeah.
(19:42):
And while it may give you a little break, your
boss isn't gonna be happy, or if you're renting that
thing by the hour at your house, you're not gonna
be happy. Yeah, because you just used all of the
force of that compressed air to jam that that chisel
bit several inches into concrete. Yes, it's you need like
King Arthur to get that out. Yea, So moving around
(20:03):
um inches at a time, so it doesn't go straight
down into one spot. And you want a sharp bit
as well. Obviously a dull bit is gonna get stuck
easier and it's not going to break up the material
as well, exactly. Um. And like you said at the
beginning that jackhammers one of the noisiest tools around. It's
the worst. It might be the noisiest tool. Jack hammers
(20:25):
um create a noise at about a hundred and thirty
decibels from what this article says. Yeah, that is the
that is the sound of a jet engine taking off.
That's how that's how loud those things are and driving here,
no joke. I passed the dude using a jack camera
(20:46):
and he wasn't wearing ear protection. You know. I was
just about to say, is I bet you've never seen
a jackhammer operator not use ear protection? I never have
until today. That's nuts. Isn't that a weird coincidence? Though?
It is totally weird and like just dumb. He's like screwed.
I got health insurance. Uh, construction headphones are a must. Um.
(21:07):
And because we're talking about how how much it wears
you out. If you're on a road crew, Um, you're
probably gonna be rotating out jackhammer duty. It's not like Chuck,
You're on the jackhammer for ten hours today for the
rest of your life. Yeah. Yeah, And it's a it's
a real thing. Like people who use jackhammers as their profession,
(21:28):
they do face a lot of problems. That dust is
you know already mentioned that, but concrete has a silica
and that's been proven to cause lung cancer, and so
a lot of these jackhammers will have a like a
water sprayer at the end of them that just constantly
is introducing water that keeps the dust on the ground
and like a puddle. All right, And what's the different
(21:50):
or the deal with this. I know you didn't get
a chance to look at it, but you sent a
pretty interesting thing on the negative effects of vibration on
the human body. Yeah, it's weird. What's the deal there?
So vibrations are very odd. They used to belong in
the realm of Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain. They
did a lot of research in the effects of vibration
(22:12):
on the body and it does everything from cause insomnia
to digestive issues to motion sickness. And this is bad vibration.
I mean there's also like good vibrations. There's also good, good,
good vibrations. There's there's vibrations that that that that vibrated
a certain frequency certain hurts and I don't remember what
(22:32):
it is, but it's like a low it's like a
low frequency vibration. And there's there's something called whole whole
body vibration which UM. Apparently GM is dealing with the
problem right now. They have like their their largest UM.
I guess maybe they're tahoe or something, but they're large SUVs.
(22:53):
They had to really strengthen the cage so that if
it rolled over, it wouldn't crush the the bottom of
the truck wouldn't crush the roof. But the thing is
so rigid that when it goes at like highway speeds,
it vibrates that this this frequency that's perfect and it's
giving the driver's motion sickness. So yeah, there's all this
(23:13):
weird stuff that happens from vibrations and exposure to vibrations,
and so that's whole body. There's also hand arm vibration
and um there's something called rayn nodes phenomenon and it's
basically like your hands being exposed to vibrations for that
many hours out of a day. And this can happen
(23:34):
too if you're if you're working with like a gas
powered weed whacker all the time, or but especially if
jackhammer operators going to run into this, this circulation gets
basically cut off from all the the exposure vibration in
your fingers and it can get so bad, especially when
it's cold out, that they just turn white. It's called blanching.
They loosensation. If you're lucky, if you're not lucky, there's
(23:55):
a tremendous amount of pain in them. You can't grip things.
And if you're a jackhammer operator, that's a big problem
because you need to be able to grip the jackhammer. Yeah.
And um, I mean weird psychological issues brought on from
like fatigue and that constant noise, headaches in the insomnia
that can all lead to you know, you're kind of
losing it a little bit. Uh. Yeah, you never really
(24:17):
thought about that, all of it put together. It's called
vibration sickness. And we're only now just starting to like
really understand it. Uh. Shrapnel is also a danger, of course. Um.
And and these are you know, if you're on a
construction site, you know all this stuff. But since you
can go out and rent a full fledged jackhammer because
you want to take out your driveway this weekend, I
(24:39):
think a lot of people go into it lightly. Like
I've seen those things on the road. I can do that,
be careful, like don't do it and flip flops or
tennis shoes. You know, get get your big heavy hobnail boot.
It's the great Larry Munson said, put those on. Get
your ear protection where I protection, wear long pants and
(25:01):
you know, don't be a dummy. It all seems like
basic safety issues. But yeah, I bet you there's been
a dude with short pants and a flip flops they
tried to jackhammer something. Jack hammeron right there is it'll happen. Oh.
They also important thing too. If you're doing this at home, um,
and you don't like your sidewalk um that leads to
(25:24):
your house, get the electrical and gas companies out there.
And I don't even think they charged for it, or
they might, but they'll they'll come out there with a
little spray can and they will show you and draw
paint on the ground where your gas lines and your
power lines are. Because you do not want to jack
cameront either of those not fun. Be careful, don't be
a dummy. Well that's ours a huh. Jack hammers the
(25:49):
most interesting tool on the on the planet. Oh. I
actually got one more thing, believe it or not. What uh?
In two thousand because these things are so loud, you know, Uh,
the Department of Energies Brookhaven National Laboratory released a helium
jack camera called the Raptor, and it had some of
these things come with rubber boots to try and soften
(26:11):
the noise, but I don't think they do a great job.
Um this thing actually less than the noise to eighty
seven decibels. That's like nothing, nothing, that's like how loud
I'm talking right now. But apparently it never like caught on.
Then in two thousand eleven, another equipment maker had an
electric model that said it's faster than Newmatic and it's
(26:31):
only a hundred decibles and they have sold a few.
But apparently, like breaking into the construction industry with a
new type of tool is super hard to do. I
think in New York especially, they were very resistant. The
unions were like, really won't work, We're not using those.
That seems like where they should do it, because um
I looked it up. Apparently six of noise complaints and
(26:55):
from in New York City we're Jackhammers. That's almost thirty
four thousand complaints in a year, Jack Camering, New York
and supposally you're not supposed to do it after six
or before seven am, but there they allow it in
certain cases. And I feel like that is like, is
(27:16):
all the case is chuck in a hotel nearby? Then
do it started five that's all I got. Uh. If
you want to know more about Jack Cameras, you can
type that one word into the search bar at how
stuff works dot com. And since I said Jack Camera,
it's time for listener Now, I'm gonna call this cool
(27:36):
program for kids in Austin, Texas. Oh yeah, I hope
you guys are doing well. I've been listening to the
show for for some time. Like to thank you for
giving me the edge on many debates and discussions. I
live in Austin, Texas and I'm writing today let you
know about a program I recently started working for, but
I think you'll appreciate. It's called a Totally Cool, Totally
Art t C t A. It is a free after
(27:58):
school program does to reach out to us youth and
give them some exposure to the arts. The class I
teach is called the Art of Machines, and we build
various contraptions. We have sent you an example project, which
we call bugs that the students building our class. Did
we get this in yet? I don't think all right,
(28:19):
I don't think i've seen this Brian so he sent it?
Awhile ago, Oh he did? If you did, I don't
know if we got it. No, we haven't got in yet.
All right, So if it's recent Brian, then it's on
the way. If not, then send it again. That was
one of a kind. Uh see what you think about
is the prototype? I hope not. He said, my dogs
(28:40):
go crazy for these things. Uh. This is the actual
anniversary of the program. We're trying to let people know
about it so it can be around for another twenty years.
We also have other classes painting, film, fiber arts, and photography. Anyway,
I was just hoping maybe you'd give a quick shout
out for totally cool totally art in Austin. It's so
totally cool and you can just look that up on
(29:02):
Google or go to uh h T T P S
colon slash slash Austin Texas dot g O B slash
t C t A. That's nice lass to secure site.
Yeah that's from Brian fry Tag and good work, buddy.
And we're gonna be in Austin for south By Southwest
this year. Yeah. Do you know if they're if we're
gonna be selling tickets or if there's like a registry
(29:23):
or what. I don't know. We'll find out and let
everyone know. But I believe it's going to our deal
live podcasts going down Sunday night, and um, but we're
gonna be around cool town cool look out for us
Sunday night. Okay, indeed, uh. If you want to get
in touch of this, you can tweek to us at
s Y s K podcast. You can join us on
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Chuck Bryant
Josh Clark
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