gary
16-05-2012, 03:19 PM
A posting (http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/05/15/0234237/an-8000-ton-giant-made-the-jet-age-possible) in slashdot.org today brought to my attention an interesting article (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/iron-giant/8886/) by Tim Hefferman that
appeared in "The Atlantic" in March this year entitled "Iron Giant. One of One of America’s great machines comes back to life".
The article discusses a gigantic 50,000 ton forging press at Alcoa in Cleveland, known as "The Fifty".
It began operation in 1955, broke down three years ago but has been overhauled
and expected to be put back in service this year.
This is one seriously large piece of industrial machinery.
To give some feel for the force it can exert, its hydraulic cylinders could in theory
lift the battleship Iowa with 860 tons to spare.
In the article, Hefferman points out the machines precision which is in the order
of thousands of an inch.
Tim Hefferman article on "The Fifty" here -
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/iron-giant/8886/
A nice companion piece by Tim Hefferman entitled "The machines that made the Jet Age" appears here -
http://boingboing.net/2012/02/13/machines.html
A Wikipedia entry on the Cold-war "Heavy Press Program" appears here -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Press_Program
Meantime, the Chinese reported that they began work in Dec 2007 on a 80,000-ton (800MN) press forge which they say would be the world's largest.
http://aciers.free.fr/index.php/2012/02/02/china-has-started-the-building-of-an-80000-ton-press-forge-us/
appeared in "The Atlantic" in March this year entitled "Iron Giant. One of One of America’s great machines comes back to life".
The article discusses a gigantic 50,000 ton forging press at Alcoa in Cleveland, known as "The Fifty".
It began operation in 1955, broke down three years ago but has been overhauled
and expected to be put back in service this year.
This is one seriously large piece of industrial machinery.
To give some feel for the force it can exert, its hydraulic cylinders could in theory
lift the battleship Iowa with 860 tons to spare.
In the article, Hefferman points out the machines precision which is in the order
of thousands of an inch.
Tim Hefferman article on "The Fifty" here -
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/iron-giant/8886/
A nice companion piece by Tim Hefferman entitled "The machines that made the Jet Age" appears here -
http://boingboing.net/2012/02/13/machines.html
A Wikipedia entry on the Cold-war "Heavy Press Program" appears here -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Press_Program
Meantime, the Chinese reported that they began work in Dec 2007 on a 80,000-ton (800MN) press forge which they say would be the world's largest.
http://aciers.free.fr/index.php/2012/02/02/china-has-started-the-building-of-an-80000-ton-press-forge-us/