随着电动机的发明，十九世纪末出现了以电为动力的机械压力机和空气锤，并获得迅速发展。锻造设备种类很多，按照工作部分运行方式不同，锻造设备可分为直线往复运动和相对旋转运动两大类。第二次以来，七十五万千牛的模锻水压机、一千五百千焦的对六万千牛的板料冲压压力机、十六万千牛的热模锻压力机等重型锻压机械，和一些自动冷镦机相继问世，形成了门类齐全的锻造机械体系。
With the invention of motor, the mechanical press and air hammer powered by electricity appeared at the end of nineteenth Century, and developed rapidly. Since the Second World War, the forging water press, one thousand and five hundred thousand char, the punching press of Liu Wanqian cattle, the hot forging press of sixteen thousand thousand cattle, and some automatic cold heading machines h***e come out in succession, forming a complete system of forging machinery.
自由锻造是利用冲击力或压力使金属在上下砧面间各个方向自由变形，不受任何限制而获得所需形状及尺寸和一定机械性能的锻件的一种加工方法，简称自由锻。
Free forging is a processing method of forging parts, which can make metal in all directi of the anvil between the upper and lower anvil, and obtain the required shape and size and certain mechanical properties by the impact force or pressure, and the free forging is called free forging.
自由锻造所用工具和设备简单，通用性好，成本低。 同铸造毛坯相比，自由锻消除了缩孔、 缩松、气孔等缺陷，使毛坯具有更高的力学性能。锻件形状简单，操作灵活。
Free forging tools and equipment are simple, versatility and low cost. Compared with the casting blank, the free forging eliminates the defects such as shrinkage porosity, porosity, porosity and so on, so that the blank has higher mechanical properties. The shape of the forgings is simple and the operation is flexible.
自由锻造是靠人工操作来控制锻件的形状和尺寸的，所以锻件精度低，加工余量大，劳动强度大，生产率也不高，因此它主要应用于单件、小批量生产。
Free forging is by manual operation to the shape and size of the forgings, so the precision of the forgings is low, the processing allowance is large, the labor intensity is big, and the productivity is not high. Therefore, it is mainly used in single piece and ***all batch production.