Striker is a name given to a hammerman ; also to substitutes and superseders of hammermen, such as air-hammers and steam-hammers, whether Vertical or horizontal. A class of patent strikers invented by Mr. Da vies, of Crumlin, is represented by Fig. 237. These strikers are of different arrangements to suit individual requirements, but the principle involved in them all is the same, and consists in the strikers being capable of delivering blows at any angle between vertical and horizontal, and also in being easily swung around their main pivots, in the same manner as cranes are swung, so that one striker may be made to work on three or four anvils.

Such strikers are made to work by either steam power or water power; and may be actuated with one foot of the smith, who treads upon a pedal near the anvil at which he is working. This pedal is attached to a rod that is connected with the valves, by which the motive power is controlled and the hammer made to strike.

Strikers of this class are well adapted to the making of all sorts of small forgings that are shaped in moulds and springy shapers denoted by Fig. 234; and when the striker is made to strike in or near the horizontal position, it is useful for angling ends of bars, rods, and plates, and for upsetting forgings that cannot be upset in the vertical position.