4500 ton Heavy Flanging & Dishing Press, O/No. 6260, c.1955

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• As a former Whessoe apprentice in early ’70s I saw this machine in action pressing both cold and hot metal plates to form steel spheres for nuclear reactors and petrochemical high-pressure storage spheres………..there was a huge gas furnace at the rear of the press, probably supplied by another manufacturer.
  The last use for nuclear work would have been in the early ’80s when Torness and Heysham 2 AGR nuclear power stations were being built. I have pictures of the domes of the reactors but can’t attach them to this post……..however they are on the FB Whessoe tribute page that I run.
  https://www.facebook.com/WhessoeHeavyEngineeringDarlington/photos/t.100057139943284/1165207080175631/?type=3

  https://www.facebook.com/WhessoeHeavyEngineeringDarlington/photos/pb.100057139943284.-2207520000/2780314718664851/?type=3

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  https://www.facebook.com/WhessoeHeavyEngineeringDarlington/photos/pb.100057139943284.-2207520000/761068627256147/?type=3

  Ed: Thanks, Michael, for your valued contribution. I will get back to you when I have had a chance to study your links in detail. John B

  By MICHAEL WHALEN (29/01/2024)

• Thanks for getting in touch John and for adding this comment. It would be great to know more about the process of designing the electrical equipment for this press – what did it involve, what were the main challenges you faced, and how long did it take to complete your work? Who manufactured the electrical equipment for this press?

  No doubt you have seen Fielding and Platt’s promotional film for Whessoe here:

  http://www.fieldingandplatthistory.org.uk/thewhessoestory

  I hope it brings back some good memories for you! Any more information you can share with us about how this great feat of engineering was achieved would be gratefully received.

  By Ollie Taylor (02/08/2013)

• I designed and commissioned the electrical equipment for this press and accumulator power plant. This machine, together with the Jodrell Bank telescope, was hailed as the great engineering achievement of the year. This press was used for forming five inch thick plates for the atomic energy reactor balls. As I recall, it took 130 plates, shaped like the segments of an orange, to make one ball, a characteristic shape associated with atomic reactor power stations.

  By John Tranter (25/07/2013)