Made by the Ladish Forging Company in the 1960s, this industrial film shows the company’s forging process and the contributions the company made to developing pressure vessels for use on board U.S. missiles and rockets. The die-forged closures with integral outlets, with a body of rolled seamless rings, produced a highly dependable missile body.
Ladish remains a leading producer of highly engineered, technically advanced components for the jet engine, aerospace and general industrial markets.
The history of ATI Ladish Co., Inc. began in 1905 with the purchase of a 1,500 lb. steam hammer and, in association with John Obenberger, Ladish was on its way to becoming known as “The Axle Forger to the Auto Industry.”
The Cudahy plant was started in 1912. By 1917, three hammers were running and the name was changed to Ladish Drop Forge Co. Ten years later, 1927, Ladish had expanded to 600 employees running 30 steam hammers making parts for the automotive, tractor and railroad companies. Always moving forward, between 1935 and 1940, Ladish spent nearly $1 million on plant improvements to support the addition of industrial pipe flanges and introduced a Production Machining Department to machine flanges. This equipment held dual purpose in the manufacturing of aircraft brake drums.
In late 1944, Vic Braun visited occupied Germany along with the U.S. troops. While there he investigated forging facilities, resulting in Ladish designing 2 of 3 counterblow hammers which are still in use today. These allowed for the forging of gas turbine wheels for the F-80 aircraft, a fighter-bomber used in the Korean conflict.
By the early 1950’s, Ladish added counterblow hammers to forge new high-strength alloys, and patented D6 steel. The D6AC was used for rocket motor cases, and was later specified for the Minutemen turbine engine. Aerospace materials technology became key to Ladish’s core business.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
