Cleveland’s forging press “The Fifty” is coming back on line. Oh sure, we don’t normally talk about factory equipment here at FYO, so here are a few key facts that make this one worth mentioning:

It’s HUGE. 16 million pounds of HUGE. The steel bolts that hold it down are each 10 feet wide and 78 feet long. It needs eight of those.

It’s powerful. You want to put 50,000 tons of pressure on something? The Fifty will do that.  

It’s incredibly precise. With tolerances measured in the thousandths of an inch, you could trust it to thread a needle. I don’t know about you, but my hands aren’t that precise even after I’ve had my coffee. 

It’s old. Having been built in 1955, it’s already 57 years old, but Alcoa has plans for it until it’s at least 109. Not bad for a piece of post-war industrial tech.

It’s also very popular. Every manned U.S. military aircraft and every commercial aircraft made by Airbus and Boeing use parts pressed into existence by the Fifty.

Hats off to Cleveland and the workers who keep giants like this running.

Further reading: 

• Iron Giant (The Atlantic)
• Alcoa’s giant forging press in Cleveland is back up and running (Crain’s Cleveland Business)
• Photo via: Bringing a 50,000-ton forging press back to Life (Boing Boing)