Alcoa 50,000 ton forging press

The east side of the press, in 1985.

A die being inserted into the east side of the press.

The Alcoa 50,000 ton forging press is a heavy press operated at Howmet Aerospace's Cleveland Operations. It was built as part of the Heavy Press Program by the United States Air Force. It was manufactured by Mesta Machinery of West Homestead, Pennsylvania, and began operation on May 5, 1955.[1][2]

Alcoa ran the plant from the time of its construction, and purchased it outright in 1982. In 2008, cracks were discovered in the press, which had to be shut down for safety reasons.[3] Repairs, originally estimated at a cost of $68 million (equivalent to $96.57 million in 2023), cost a total of $100 million, and were completed in early 2012.[4]

This press was marked a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1981.[5]

Specifications

Source:[5]

• Type: Push down
• Height: 87', 36' below ground level and 51' above.
• Weight: approximately 8000 tons.
• Stroke: 6 feet
• Daylight: 15 feet
• Operating hydraulic pressure: 4500 psi
• Number of rams: 8

References

1. Heffernan, Tim (March 2012). "Iron Giant". The Atlantic. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
2. Heffernan, Tim (13 February 2012). "The machines that made the Jet Age". Boing Boing. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
3. Eaton, Sabrina (2009-01-29). "Crack in huge Alcoa press may move jobs from Cleveland to California". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
4. Shaw, Scott (2012-02-13). "Alcoa's 50,000-ton press ready for work; $100 million repair job ends on schedule". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
5. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (September 24, 1981). "50,000 Ton Closed Die Forging Press" (PDF). The American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

External links

• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. OH-64, "Alcoa Forging Division, Mesta 50,000-Ton Closed Die Forging Press, 1600 Harvard Avenue, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH", 20 photos, 2 color transparencies, 3 data pages, 21 photo caption pages
• "National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark: 50,000 Ton Closed Die Forging Press" (PDF). American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 1981-09-24. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
• Alcoa (2012-02-21). The 50 is back!. YouTube. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
• Brooks, Robert (2012-04-23). "History in the Making". Forging. Retrieved 2017-10-10.