Hammer
A
hammer is a
tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving
nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head, with most of the weight in the head. The basic design is hand-operated, but there are also many mechanically operated models for heavier uses, such as
steam hammers.
The hammer may be the oldest tool for which definite evidence exists. Stone hammers are known which are dated to 2,600,000 BCE.
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The hammer is a basic tool of many professions. By analogy, the name
hammer has also been used for devices that are designed to deliver blows, e.g. in the
caplock mechanism of
firearms.
History
The use of simple tools dates to about 2,400,000 BCE when various shaped stones were used to strike
wood,
bone, or other stones to break them apart and shape them. Stones attached to sticks with strips of leather or animal sinew were being used as hammers by about 30,000 BCE during the middle of the
Paleolithic Stone Age. Its archeological record means it is perhaps the oldest human tool known.