This major order for the design and manufacture of a 6.5MN Horizontal Deep Drawing and Ironing Press (DDI), 12MN Vertical Cupping Press, Tooling and associated equipment commenced in May 1997 after protracted negotiations extending over an 18 month period!
The equipment was required in South Korea for a new production line to manufacture Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) cylinders for use with motor vehicles and other gas cylinders. An expanding market at the time!
Fielding & Platt acted as the lead contractor for the design and manufacture of the DDI press with the design of the Cupping press being undertaken by Chester Hydraulics, another Fielding & Platt International group company.
A booklet entitled ‘The Hydraulic Company Limited, Chester, a history of the first hundred years, written by Cyril Charles Harris in 1974, has been kindly donated to the Gloucestershire Archives by his son Brian, who wrote a foreword and arranged publication in 2019. The booklet makes references to Fielding & Platt and is now recorded in the online catalogue under D7338/16/1/8.
The DDI cold forming process of converting a circular steel disc into a deep- drawn cylinder is illustrated in this brochure.
Design of the tooling, to meet a range of cylinder sizes, was undertaken by the specialist company, Heliform Processes Ltd., with manufacture of the tooling being undertaken locally.
A new feature of the DDI press was the attachment of a concaving unit to concave the base of the cylinder (see attached photo).
The presses were erected by engineers N K Gas Cylinders, without supervision (and a first class job they did!).
Photographs JB 201 – JB201F were taken in Gloucester during preliminary tooling trials.
Photographs JB251 – JB284 were taken on site by F & P commissioning engineer David Jones and tooling consultant Ray Short, MD of Heliform Processes Ltd.
Click on the first photo to commence the slideshow.
Click on the hyperlink to see other Notable Orders from the 1990s
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