Another 50,000-ton, closed-die forge press was installed in Wyman Gordon. See "Closed-die forging press" for more information about that press.
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| ASME This 50,000-ton die-forging press is among the largest fabrication tools in the world. It was designed and built for the U.S. Air Force by the Mesta Machine Company of Pittsburgh, following the discovery a 30,000-ton press used by the Germans in World War II (later acquired by the Soviet Union). By 1950, a Heavy Press Program was organized to establish a self-sustaining industrial base for a press capable of producing large forgings and extrusions for the United States. The 50,000-ton Mesta press was one of the first built under this program between 1952 and 1955. It has been dominant in commercial aircraft development as well as advanced military aircraft and aerospace programs. (See also NL 66.) The Aluminum Company of America is the operating contractor. The principle of force multiplication that underlies the action of hydraulic presses was demonstrated in 1646 by Blaise Pascal of France. It was first incorporated into a useful industrial press by Joseph Bramah of England in 1796. |
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| HAER OHIO,18-CLEV,41- 6. Die being inserted into east side of Press - Alcoa Forging Division, Mesta 50,000-Ton Closed Die Forging Press, 1600 Harvard Avenue, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH Photos from Survey HAER OH-64 |
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| HAER OHIO,18-CLEV,41- 9. North elevation showing control panel for Press in foreground |
R Jim Echlin: Unfortunately there isn’t a single remaining heavy steel casting foundry in the US capable of casting large parts like the pictured ones. Blaw Knox’s East Chicago works was the last of these US foundries and it closed in 1986. Since then, consumers of massive castings have been forced to buy overseas, and many such parts have been converted from steel to nodular iron.
Brian Olson: R Jim Echlin Baycast in Michigan is probably the largest steel cast foundry in the USA now. Whemco in Midland might be shutdown. Whemco did produce large castings however not in any degree of complexity.
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| Dane Rubsam commented on a post Here's the 50k ton press here in Cleveland at Alcoa. David Richards: Dane I worked on that monster several times,,,,we took that press from Germany,,,WWII,,,,,it’s got a twin,,,, supposed to be still in Germany. [This is wrong. This Alcoa press was built by Mesta in America. But it was rebuilt by a German company.] Dane Rübsam: Looks like after the rebuild about 10 years ago. I was involved a little with that project. Know the Millwrights that did that job with Norris Bros. |
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| Don Cassata posted via Dennis DeBruler Michael Matisko: The Air Force/Alcoa Cleveland press! Brian Olson: Great pictures. It is disheartening to know that everything Mesta designed and built back in the day is still made today but in Germany, a country with higher labor costs than the United States. The unfortunate reality is Mesta did not stay on the cutting edge of technology and paid dearly for that. Robert Binius: Brian Olson they were allergic to modernization and continuous casters for some reason. |
In Lost Illinois Manufacturing, I saw the following comment for their posting of this video [which is now private, bummer!]: Large tonnage presses (50,000 tons) are critical for forming large parts of modern aircraft frames. The U.S. after WW II had the capability to make this press (Mesta Machinery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesta_Machinery) but when this Mesta press had to be rebuilt in 2008 no one in the U.S. was left with the capability to rebuild it so it had to be contracted out to Germany (http://www.siempelkamp.com/index.php?id=738&L=0). Another sign of the dangerous erosion of the U.S. national security due to the "free trade" policy of the U.S. Now, potential enemies such as China have taken the world lead in heavy press construction.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Press_Program http://blogs.wsj.com/…/under-pressure-the-10-story-machine…/ The machine is the biggest of its kind in the world. The biggest forge in the U.S. can exert only 50,000 tons of pressure, and is operated by Alcoa in Ohio. France has a 65,000-ton machine, and Russia has a machine capable of exerting 75,000 tons of pressure.[Dennis DeBruler]The rebuild cost $100m. "One of the toughest jobs was removing the cast-iron columns that supported the press - massive towers of metal that go seven stories under the plant's floor and five stories above it." They had an adjacent 35,000 ton press so production was able to continue, just not as efficiently and they had to absorb the increased cost of production. [cleveland, Norton kept firing up and telling me that I had 18 viruses and that I should renew even though I now have ESET installed on my computer.]
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| construction-physics This was one of the presses made by the Heavy Press Program. This webpage has a table that lists all of the presses in the program. |
The stamping of larger parts reduces assembly time.
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| construction-physics "German large aircraft forging (left) vs same assembly made from multiple smaller parts, via USAF" |
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| construction-physics "Reducing in machining on part for the B-52 by using heavy presses, via American Machinist." |
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