Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Received Via E-Mail

In contrast to my dawn panned view on December 12 of one of the four LASCO Umformtechnik GmbH forge components on heavy-duty flat cars at Cresson, PA, here is a full daylight view of one taken the previous day at Norfolk Southern's Enola Yard near Harrisburg. The foursome was destined for Ellwood Crankshaft's $80 million project to convert the former Sharon Westinghouse plant's Z Building along Sharpsville Avenue to manufacturing the largest internal combustion engine crankshafts in the world. One wag observing the U-shaped frame components suggested that 'U might stand for ugly', but I think the residents of Mercer County would counter that the tremendous investment in the Shenango Valley that has brought these new industrial machines to town represents a thing of beauty.

An idea of what the two enormous forges (
assembled from the four frame pieces) will look like in service, above and below the plant floor, can be seen in the illustrations under the headings of 'Performance', 'Innovation' and 'Safety' on pages 11-13 of this manufacturer's brochure:
    http://www.lasco.de/umformtechnik/media/archive2/technische_informationen/Hydraulische_Schmiedehaemmer_2012_E.pdf