Quote Originally Posted by piper184 View Post
True for pure energy input/output but it is a good proof of concept. Once connected to some other form of power like a water wheel it won't matter as much.

The other thing is if made to more exacting dimensions you would be able to move the cam to the other side of the hammer pivot point to gain a mechanical advantage to lift the hammer higher. Of course the cam would need to on top but adding some follower rollers it would greatly reduce the friction and increase the efficiency.

I gathered that they are trying to follow the progress of mechanization from stone age to industrial revolution. A great learning experience that many people have not been introduced to before.
Some of the early hammer mills were derived from still earlier tucking or waulking mills used to beat the lanolin out of wool fibers, and to tighten the fibers for making yarns for weaving. the pivot of some of the earliest mills was located somewhere along the length of the handle a cam rotated against the end of the handle then released it as the pawl rolled off the end. as many as 30 hammers might be strung along the length of the rotating shaft with protrusions sticking out not so much as resembling a cam but a flat paddle that would catch and release the end of the handle as it rotated. a similar hammer mill was used to hammer the impurities out of molten iron slounge from the bloomery, to create pig iron. Later Fulling mills used a double swinging hammed with one hammer being crescent shaped while the other. shaped more like a square headed maul, which swung inside of the crescent sharing the same pivot, both were raised by a gear cam at the outer radius of the crescent hammer.