One of the largest (pressure) hydraulic presses ever. Specs under pics.
These things need foundations up to a hundred feet deep .. or otherwise on bedrock (like a bridge or a skyscraper) to stand the pressures.
Originally part of the United States
Heavy_Press_Program (1950-1957). Could be another whole post but I'll leave it to intested parties to check out this 25 minute vintage video. Remarkable what engineers/builders can come up with.
The spoils of WWII (from dismantling Nazi Germany after it was over) the US and Russia's aerospace industries got industrial press technology that revolutionized the Reich's aircraft. Bet there's intriguing Cold War story there.
What did the Russians and Allies take after the war?
Among other things, how to make huge, lightweight pressed metal parts out of magnesium and titanium. These parts "break" when hammered into shapes. The Nazi Germans perfected a new process: controlled speed hot forming.
Example of such a part? This titanium forging (left) turned into a stamping (right) of a main F-15
bulkhead (a vertical "wall" in an airplane).
Not sure where this part is in the plane, but shape looks amidships, wing structure/spars overtop, dual engine "bays" through the "arches" I drew red box to guess where a BIG one-piece part shaped like this could be ..somebody correct me if you know for sure.
This part was done by the Alcoa Press below. Nicknamed the "50" for 50,000 lbs of pressing force. That's a lot .. to make this titanium buikhead above.
sources:
Iron Giant,
The world's largest hydraulic presses | Gasparini Industries
circa 1950's
circa 2009
Made by Mesta Machinery, weighs 8000 tonnes and is 27 metres high. Its table measures 7900*3700 mm and has a stroke of 1800 mm.
Aluminium giant Alcoa, which has operated the machine since 1955, bought it from the US government in 1982. In 2009, the press had to stop for repairs due to cracks in the basement.
The retrofit cost about $100 million and will guarantee at least another 50 years of operation.
Its 14 major structural components, cast in ductile iron, weigh as much as 250 tons each; those yard-thick steel bolts are also 78 feet long; all told, the machine weighs 16 million pounds
When activated its eight main hydraulic cylinders deliver up to 50,000 tons of compressive force.
If the logistics could somehow be worked out, the Fifty could bench-press [yes, like a weightlifter on his back by analogy to put the capacity in perspective] the battleship
Iowa, with 860 tons to spare.
The US's other 50,000 ton press. A Loewy-manfacturer machine operatin at Wyman-Gordon in Masschusetts.
The second was built by Loewy Hydropress and operated by Wyman-Gordon at Air Force Plant 63 in Grafton, Massachusetts since October 1955. Its hydraulic circuit uses a water-oil emulsion at a
pressure of 310 bar with a flow rate of 45,000 litres/min.
Both machines are used to produce aircraft components such as the Boeing 747, the Stealth bomber, and the F-35 Joint Strike fighter aircraft.
Not the biggest. The French, Japanese, and Russians have 65,000 ton presses.
The Chinese have a 80,000 ton press (below). The Chinese are rather secretive about what they use their mega press for. Probably same as everybody else. military and aerospace.
source:
https://min.news/en/tech/62c18849020317538aec1842d89bc8b9.html.
