3 Fundamentals of press design

2 Metal Forming Handbook
of more than 150 years: From the manually operated sheet metal shear
to the fully automatic transfer press for complete car body side panels.
Over the millenniums, the handworking of metal by forming reached
what may still today be considered a remarkable degree of skill, resulting
in the creation of magnificent works in gold, silver, bronze, copper
and brass. It was only in around 1800 that iron sheet produced in
rolling plants began to find its way into the craftsmen’s workshops,
requiring completely new processing techniques: In contrast to nonferrous
metals, the much harder and more brittle new material could be
more economically worked with the aid of machines.
In 1839, master locksmith Louis Schuler founded a modest workshop
comprising primarily a tinsmith’s shop, as well as a blacksmith’s forge
and a smithy. Driven by his Swabian business sense, he considered the
possibilities opened up by the newly available, cheaper iron sheet. He
was quick to realize that the increased input required in terms of physical
strength and working time, and thus the manufacturing costs
involved in producing the finished article were far too high to benefit
from the favorable price of the iron sheet itself. Step by step, Louis
Schuler accordingly began to replace manual work processes by mechanical
fixtures and devices. He began to mechanise his workshop with
sheet shears, bending machines and press breaks, which were considerable
innovations in those days.
Inspired by the World Exhibition in London in 1851, Louis Schuler
decided to concentrate his activities entirely on producing machines for
sheet metal working. His production range was continuously extended
to include sheet metal straightening machines, metal spinning and
levelling benches, eccentric presses, spindle presses, turret, crank and
drawing presses, both mechanically and hydraulically powered, notching
presses as well as cutting and forming tools and dies. As early as
1859, he exported his first sheet metal forming machines.
At the end of the 1870s, Schuler registered his first patent for “Innovations
in punching dies, shears and similar”. In 1895, he patented
“Hydraulic drawing presses with two pistons fitted into each other”,
and in the same year was also awarded first prize at the Sheet Metal
Industry Trade Exhibition in Leipzig. With expansion of the production
program, the workforce as well as the company premises had undergone
continuous growth (Fig. 1.1). The Schuler machine tool company
Metal Forming Handbook /Schuler (c) Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1998