The Wyman-Gordon 50,000-ton forging press is a forging press located at the Wyman-Gordon Grafton Plant that was built as part of the Heavy Press Program by the United States Air Force. It was manufactured by Loewy Hydropress of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and began operation in October, 1955. [1]
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceans, with an area of about 106,460,000 km2 (41,100,000 sq mi). It covers approximately 20 percent of Earth's surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" from the "New World" in the European perception of the World.
Grafton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population, indicated by the 2014 town records is 14,268, in nearly 5,700 households. Incorporated in 1735, Grafton is the home of a Nipmuc village known as Hassanamisco Reservation, the Willard House and Clock Museum, Community Harvest Project, and the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Grafton consists of the North Grafton, Grafton, and South Grafton geographic areas, each with a separate ZIP Code. Grafton also operates the state's largest On-Call Fire Department, with 74 members.
Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which it is performed: cold forging, warm forging, or hot forging. For the latter two, the metal is heated, usually in a forge. Forged parts can range in weight from less than a kilogram to hundreds of metric tons. Forging has been done by smiths for millennia; the traditional products were kitchenware, hardware, hand tools, edged weapons, cymbals, and jewellery. Since the Industrial Revolution, forged parts are widely used in mechanisms and machines wherever a component requires high strength; such forgings usually require further processing to achieve an almost finished part. Today, forging is a major worldwide industry.
The short ton is a mass measurement unit equal to 2,000 pounds-mass. It is commonly used in the United States, where it is known as simply a common ton.
A forming press, commonly shortened to press, is a machine tool that changes the shape of a work-piece by the application of pressure. The operator of a forming press is known as a press-tool setter, often shortened to tool-setter.
The second I-55 was one of three Type C cruiser submarines of the C3 sub-class built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Commissioned in April 1944, she was lost in July 1944 while taking part in the Marianas campaign during World War II.
The landing craft mechanized (LCM) is a landing craft designed for carrying vehicles. They came to prominence during the Second World War when they were used to land troops or tanks during Allied amphibious assaults.
A crane vessel, crane ship or floating crane is a ship with a crane specialized in lifting heavy loads. The largest crane vessels are used for offshore construction. Conventional monohulls are used, but the largest crane vessels are often catamaran or semi-submersible types as they have increased stability. On a sheerleg crane, the crane is fixed and cannot rotate, and the vessel therefore is manoeuvered to place loads. As of 2019, the largest crane vessel in the world is the CNOOC Limited owned Lanjing, having 3 cranes of capacities 7500 tonnes, 4000 tonnes and 1600 tonnes.
The Creusot steam hammer is a giant steam hammer built in 1877 by Schneider and Co. in the French industrial town of Le Creusot. With the ability to deliver a blow of up to 100 tons, the Creusot hammer was the most powerful in the world until 1891, when the Bethlehem Iron Company of the United States purchased patent rights from Schneider and built a steam hammer of almost identical design but capable of delivering a 125-ton blow.
Alexander Zeitlin was a Russian-American military leader. He was prominent in the United States Air Force major hydraulic press design program following the Second World War and Korean War years. He and his colleagues worked on "The Heavy Press Program of the United States Air Force." that began in earnest in 1950.
The Heavy Press Program was a Cold War-era program of the United States Air Force to build the largest forging presses and extrusion presses in the world. These machines greatly enhanced the US defense industry's capacity to forge large complex components out of light alloys, such as magnesium and aluminum. The program began in 1950 and concluded in 1957 after construction of four forging presses and six extruders, at an overall cost of $279 million. Eight of them are still in operation today, manufacturing structural parts for military and commercial aircraft. They still hold the records for size in North America, though they have since been surpassed by presses in Japan, France, Russia and China.
Wyman-Gordon is a company that designs and manufactures complex metal components. Founded in 1883 as a manufacturer of crankshafts for looms, it has a long history of making forged metal components, particularly for the aerospace industry. Wyman-Gordon is now a subsidiary of Precision Castparts Corp., and is based in Houston, Texas. It has 13 plants in five countries, and employed about 2,500 people as of 2012.
Robert Waring Stoddard was President of Wyman-Gordon, a major industrial enterprise, and one of the founders of the anticommunist John Birch Society.
Harry Galpin Stoddard was an American businessman who became president of Wyman & Gordon, a major industrial concern, in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. He was also part owner of the Worcester Telegram, using this paper in the fight against organized crime.
Wyman-Gordon Grafton Plant, formerly known as Air Force Plant 63, is a plant of Wyman-Gordon located in North Grafton, Massachusetts. It was purchased by Wyman-Gordon in 1982 from the United States Air Force, although the company had been operating as a contractor for the plant since its establishment. The plant is also home to the one of two of the nation's largest forging presses.
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.
SS Jacona was the first floating electric power plant. This powership was a cargo ship converted to a mobile electric generator plant for emergencies. It was used by the United States Navy during World War II and supplied electric power to South Korea on a temporary basis.
Smith-Clayton Forge Ltd were a company specialising in drop forgings that was established in Lincoln. In 1966 Smith-Clayton Forge became a subsidiary of GKN and later was absorbed into British Steel. It then become part of United Engineering Forgings (UEF) which in 2000 and 2001 was sold on to Wyman Gordon and Bifrangi, who now operate on the Smith-Clayton Forge site.
Ro-48 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Kaichū type submarine of the K6 sub-class. Completed and commissioned in March 1944, she served in World War II and was sunk in July 1944 during her first war patrol.
The Indian Pressurized Water Reactor-900 (IPWR-900) is a class of pressurized water reactors being designed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in partnership with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited to supplement the Indian three-stage nuclear power programme