Hilarious Punch Press Incident

For once, a funny imponderable, as memory of the event returned today. For those not aware that unimaginable thousands of parts needed in contrivances used everyday are produced by punch presses, here is a video of a small punch press, which forms, pierces, and blanks out parts usually of thin metal. Notice the large, spinning flywheel, which is central to my story.


Below, a 60 ton press showing operating principle.



My first employer, Victor Mfg. & Gasket Co., was the world's largest gasket maker. The main plant, Plant #1, was a huge brick structure covering a complete city block. At one end, there was a portion 7 stories tall, the rest of the place being one story. The punch presses were among the heaviest, largest pieces of equipment, where would you place them? On the 7th. FLOOR, of course! A bunch of them, side by side, operated night and day, each having an operator who fed material into and out of the press. Here is a line of old timers in operation:



Victor's operators were protected from loss of fingers and hands, unlike the above, by TETHERS attached to both wrists, which jerked the hands back away from the press as it stroked. They were thus confined against fleeing an accident! The accident occurred one day as one of the huge fast-spinning flywheels BROKE OFF, fell to the floor, and began a fast journey down the aisle, leaving terrified workers unable to do little more than cringe against their machines!

At the end of the aisle was an outside brick wall, facing Fillmore Street at the north end of the plant. Miraculously, the rolling flywheel, weighing perhaps a ton or more, MISSED everything and everyone in it's path, except the wall! 7 floors below, outdoors, a guard, was stationed to open and close the large commercial door through which fork-trucks operated all day, crossing the street to the plant on the opposite side. Fillmore never had any traffic on it, but cars were parked on either side of the street.

The guard, suddenly hearing a deafening crash, looked upward to see the still spinning wheel come through the brick wall, amidst a great number of bricks, it's momentum carrying it out almost to street center, where it embedded itself in the pavement! It MISSED the parked cars! No one was hurt by the incident, fortunately, an aftermath being quick-detachments for the wrist tethers being implemented, and the hire of a new guard to replace the poor guy frightened out of his wits who quit the next day!

The incident happened shortly before I came to work there, and following rumor, I checked outdoors on Fillmore Street: the wall had been repaired with brand-new brick WAY UP on the 7th. floor!

Frank

 

@John Brunner

Victor had it's share of lifelong employees who were missing a finger or two, even a hand. Guess safety came as an afterthought.

I wish I had been in the plant when during the wee morning hours, the countershaft of a Verson 90-ton press was broken in two: that being a steel shaft 4 inches in diameter, by the lock-down nuts not being properly secured. The press was blanking 10-inch diameter oil seal channels for the giant Timken Roller Bearings used on railway cars. Verson quoted 6 months delivery for a replacement shaft; I took measurements off the broken shaft, and we made our own. Press was running in 4 days.

Frank

 

You are a man of many talents, @Frank Sanoica .

 

@Shirley Martin

Thank you kindly, Ma'am! I was accused on "that other forum" of making up the stories of incidents as I lived them. Guess no one could imagine......

Frank