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forging - Stamping - Heat Treating
January, 1925
S t a m p i n g P l a n t D e s i g n e d for S m a l l W o r k
New Plant of the Acklin Stamping Company at Toledo, Ohio,
Designed to Handle a Wide Variety of Small Work—
T H E use of pressed metal parts is gaining momentum
as the various engineers are beginning to
recognize their many advantages. Absolute uniformity
from piece to piece, lightness of weight, and
the fact that such parts require little, if any, machining
after they come from the press are only a few of the
reasons why pressed metal is gaining in popularity.
The facilities of many plants are inadequate to
handle this class of work to meet present day competition,
having been built some years ago and enlarged
from time to time by an addition here and there. What
advantages the original plant may have possessed
have been lost by the numerous enlargements until
it can no longer produce work at a profit. This is
particularly true in a plant doing a jobbing business,
where a great variety of work must be handled. Such
a plant must be laid out with a view- to expediting
orders received on short notice.
The Acklin Stamping Company, Toledo, Ohio, recently
moved into their new plant at Nebraska Avenue
and the New York Central Railroad. The building
is of modern fire proof construction, consisting of
brick, steel and glass, 600 ft. in length by 150 ft. wide
and located on a 16 acre site, which allows ample room
for expansion. The building is divided into three bays,
each 50 ft. in width, the center bay being served by a
10-ton crane.
The presses are lined up in comparatively small
groups, with separate drives for each group, thereby
removing the danger of departmental shut-down. The
small and medium sized presses are located in the
north bay; the heavy press equipment is located in
the center bay where it is served to advantage by the
crane. The heavy presses have individual drives, and
are also equipped with stationary jib cranes attached
to their frames to facilitate handling of large dies and
bolster plates.
In the south bay are also located the tumbling,
grinding, annealing and welding rooms, so located as
to reduce the trucking of parts in process to a minimum.
These rooms are completely closed so as to
eliminate noise, dust, and heat, from the rest of the
plant. In the same bay is located the space for die
storage, in which is kept the innumerable dies made
for the customer's work.
The balance of the south bay is taken up with a
space provided for steel storage'and receiving. This
end of the building is served with a side track running
Ample Room Provided for Future Expansion
the entire length, above which is a three-ton monorail
for unloading coal and loading scrap, etc. Incoming
steel is taken from the floor of the car direct into the
steel storage space. Here are located shears of various
sizes for cutting the stock to size from standard
sheets on requisition from the press room. Considering
the variety of work handled in a jobbing business,
this is an important part of the service, for not all jobs
are of sufficient size or nature to warrant the purchase
of special sizes of strip steel. The raw material is
delivered to the press room on lift trucks by means of
a gasoline tractor.
In the west end of the building is a section devoted
entirely to the manufacture of pressed steel steering
wheel spiders for automobile use. The equipment in
this department consists of the proper sizes of presses
so arranged as to eliminate the handling of parts to
a minimum between operations. In addition there is
the equipment for melting the alloys from which the
hub of the spider is cast, as well as a motor driven
turn table used in the casting operation. The special
machining, tapping, etc., required for special designs
is also handled in this department.
On the east end are located the general offices, as
well as 16,000 square feet for the die shop. Here is
a variety of equipment which enables approximately
60 die makers to turn out new production dies and
tools, as well as to take care of maintenance on old
production equipment.
As the Acklin Stamping Company is practically engaged
in a jobbing business, the new plant has an
ideal layout for handling a wide variety of work. The
arrangement also assists in expediting orders which
are received on short notice. Among other parts produced
are the majority of those required in automobile
and truck construction, and many others for stove and
furniture use, as well as electrical devices.
In 1911, Grafton M. Acklin resigned as general
manager of the Toledo Machine and Tool Company,
selling out his interest in that concern. He founded
the Acklin Stamping Company for the benefit of his
two sons, James M. Acklin and W. Collord Acklin,
who have been active in the management of the firm
since that time. At a still later date a third son, Donald
R. Ackhn, went into the firm.
Associated in the firm with the Acklin brothers are
Duane T. Anderson as chief engineer; F. Cyril Greenlull,
production manager and Harold Jay as sales engineer.