Wagon Rim Shaper

A blacksmith was a very important man in the Maramec Iron Works. A typical blacksmith shop included smiths shoeing a horse and tyring a wheel. In tyring, the wheel was dished or shaped and clamped to a tyring platform. A metal bar was then heated, bent into a ring, and dropped over the wheel by ironworkers using tongs. Water was next thrown on the red-hot band, causing it to contract. The dish-shaped wheel was then lifted from the shaper and set on a wagon axle.

Missouri · United States