Alcoa 50,000 ton forging 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]

The east side of the press, in 1985.
A die being inserted into the east side of the press.

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 $92.76 million in 2022), cost a total of $100 million, and were completed in early 2012.[4]

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.
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