Sunday, May 21, 2017

Wean United/United Engineering & Foundry/William Tod

Rick Rowlands commented on The Rust Jungle posting
[Again, notice the artist is making sure that plenty of black smoke is coming out of every smokestack. Unfortunately, that is probably rather accurate because I saw a comment while researching the Youngstown Car Co. that you could not see across the Mahoning River Valley because of the smoke in the air.]
In addition to Mesta, William Tod also made steel mill equipment. I knew that steel mill equipment included rolling mill stands and ladles. What I learned by studying William Tod is that it also included stationary steam engines to power those rolling mill stands as well as the blowers for blast furnaces and generators for electricity. "Engines weighing upwards of 700 to 800 tons capable of producing up to 30,000 horsepower were built by several manufacturers in the time period of the 1890s through 1920." Allis Chalmers was the other of the "big three" steam engine manufactures. The Tod history page describes two engines. The low pressure cylinders are 68" and 76". So the 250hp Vilter engine with a 24" LP cylinder that I saw was rather little. [TodEngine, History tab]

Rick Rowlands commented on The Rust Jungle posting
Municipal water pumping engine being erected in the old machine shop

Rick Rowlands commented on The Rust Jungle posting
 60 ton bedplate being machined on Tod's planer

Rick Rowlands commented on The Rust Jungle posting
twin tandem compound reversing engine
Birds-Eye View
The Google Satellite image shows that the plant has been torn down, but both Bing's Aerial and Birds-Eye Views show the buildings. "At its peak in the early 1970s, the plant employed 1,300, but it closed in 1982....It was last occupied in 2011 by Youngstown Pipe and Supply" [Vindy] AbandonedOnline has a history of Wean United and several photos of the abandoned buildings. I particularly like this photo.

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