"Early scrap processors had little, if any, equipment to help them in the arderous task of preparing scrap. In handling scrap metal, for instance, chisels and sledge hammers were used to break apart the large metal objects. Even weather was to play a key role: workers poured almost-freezing water into the cracks of cast iron and steel then waited for freezing weather to break the metal apart....By the turn of the century, however, innovative methods of handling scrap were in place, and more on the way. Shears, balers, torches, crushers, machinery to clean, and machinery to screen—improvements in scrap processing became increasingly important as the industry modernized and began its progress..."

–from ISRI's Scrap Recycling: Where Tomorrow Begins