A little history to go with the Life photos
2008 November 21
As suspected, those Life magazine photos from yesterday — remember this?
LIFE Magazine photo
They’re apparently of the Wyman-Gordon 50,000 ton forging press, which was dedicated as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1983. It was, at the time it was built, the largest machine ever built, with foundations going 100 feet into bedrock.
More photos and a history explaining the Cold War factors behind its construction! Here’s a PDF: wyman-gordon-press
