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

Youngstown Steel Heritage / J&L Narrow Gauge Railroad posted

Denny Paderewski: Looks like Tod had it’s own railroad car.. The scale of this manufacturing is amazing.

Youngstown Steel Heritage / J&L Narrow Gauge Railroad: Denny Paderewski Yes it was specially made just for moving large gears such as this.

Youngstown Steel Heritage / J&L Narrow Gauge Railroad posted two images with the comment: "What connection does Youngstown have to the original Ferris Wheel?  The steam engine that drove it was built by the William Tod Company."

Fred Dahlinger: I believe that the wheel rim included rolled sections supplied by Jones & Laughlin. Norman Anderson's book about pleasure wheels, including the Ferris wheel, is the best resource on the topic. He subsequently issued the Ferris Wheel Newsletter for numerous years and it is also a resource of great value.

1

2

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.