It will be readily understood that the rolls, the hammers, the
machinery for punching, drilling, planing, etc., used in the
manufacture and preparation of plates and angles for shipbuilding and
armor plates are on a scale far different at the present date from
what they were in 1869. Perhaps the most striking examples of powerful
machinery for these purposes are the great Creuzot hammer, the falling
mass of which has recently been increased to 100 tons, and the new
planing machines at the Cyclops Works, which weigh upward of 140 tons
each, for planing compound armor plates 19 in. thick and weighing 57
tons.