Malo48 Posted October 25, 2022 Share Posted October 25, 2022 Hello all, I was deep in a rabbit hole viewing old film clips on the Library of Congress site, and came across a collection of footage filmed in 1939 by cinematographer Floyd Crosby, for use in a movie directed by Pare Lorentz. The movie was to tell the story of workingmen and their families, but for some reason was left unfinished. However, the footage remains. Most of the footage was taken in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and then out near Grand Coulee Dam, and most has no identifying notes aside from what landmarks/buildings still exist today for comparison. There is quite a bit of footage of automobile and steel manufacturing, including this segment. There is no sound on any of the segments. Correct me if I am wrong but this looks to be Plymouth bodies being stamped (there are other segments filmed of various other Plymouth assembly points). Enjoy! I'll post others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted October 25, 2022 Share Posted October 25, 2022 Back when common sense was the safety guard, on where not to place your hands. Modern manufacturing has come a long way. The painting departments back then are pretty crazy. Have old pictures of cars being sprayed, and nobody has a mask on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACK M Posted October 25, 2022 Share Posted October 25, 2022 Did you catch the two guys throwing stuff at each other? Looked like a heavy piece. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1937hd45 Posted October 25, 2022 Share Posted October 25, 2022 Notice the work gloves the workers are wearing had no fingers, like wearing paper bags, early safety feature I'm sure. Thank you for posting the film. Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAV8427 Posted October 25, 2022 Share Posted October 25, 2022 Started my career many years ago in a tool and die shop. Cant fathum building dies like that with the machines they had. And of course they are large x huge. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpage Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 Back in the day when America was an industrial giant! How time can change things! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drhach Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 I would bet that most of those jobs are done by robots now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
63RedBrier Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 In the second segment it appears as though they are running the roof/top of the cowl thru the press again. I wonder why? Crisper edges? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Jr. Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 Back window area was still not punched out in one of the presses that I could see and yes assume crisper edges for attaching panels to sides near gutter area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ply33 Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 4 hours ago, drhach said: I would bet that most of those jobs are done by robots now. I have seen some videos of modern factories where the presses are lined up 90° differently than in this video and a mechanical slider with what looks like a vacuum pickup moves the material out of one press and into the next. See, for example: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Gariepy Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 8 hours ago, jpage said: Back in the day when America was an industrial giant! How time can change things! Was? We produce more automobiles than any other country except China. We remain an industrial giant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAV8427 Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 3 hours ago, 63RedBrier said: In the second segment it appears as though they are running the roof/top of the cowl thru the press again. I wonder why? Crisper edges? My guess would be that it is a trim die to cut window opening and seam areas to more accurate dimensions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAV8427 Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 5 hours ago, drhach said: I would bet that most of those jobs are done by robots now. Lots of very large accurate CNC gantry mills out there. We have a shop we use for our big stuff that just put in a mill that will do something like 150feet in length. Operator rides on the machine. They have their own rigging crew and many times do things in the 10-20 ton range. Cant imagine the amout of concrete under one of those. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 4 operations to form the roof panel. I would love to be able to get a close look at the dies. Also wonder what the die life was before they needed rework. Amazing work well before CNC machining. All done on manual machines...................Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Jr. Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 I ran a 1000 ton press that originally stamped out Model T parts. We purchased it from a second hand dealer in Detroit and had a crew come in to set it up. The set up crew found cracks in the 4 post frame assembly and they drilled out, inserted pins and welded up pins where needed. I was amazed with the whole operation of these highly skilled men. Yes the base was quite substantial and had to be dead nuts level. It was set into a deep pit we had to make to allow us to move hot alloys in and out about waist high. It stood about 30 feet tall. It originally just went up and down in a cyclic motion but we had another company modify it to allow us to control movement. You had to have both hands on dead man buttons at all times while closing the heated platens operating it. Once the sensors were satisfied nothing obstructed the operation I could then use a joy stick to apply pressure to the press. Worked with a crew of 4 men when operating it. And this guy was a small press compared to the ones in the video. We could never reach in the press to push or pull things out like those guys did. OSHA would have had a ball there back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpage Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 We may assemble more vehicles, but we don't produce all of the parts anymore. Take out all the foreign made parts and we'd be dead in the water! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drhach Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 2 hours ago, jpage said: We may assemble more vehicles, but we don't produce all of the parts anymore. Take out all the foreign made parts and we'd be dead in the water! The "invisible hand" of economics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now