Alexander Zeitlin

Alexander Zeitlin (28 August 1900 in Russia – 19 April 1998) was a prominent figure in the US Air Force major press design program following the Second World War and Korean War years. He and his colleagues worked on "The Heavy Press Program of the U.S.A.F." that began in earnest in 1950.

Career

The Heavy Press Program was under the direction of the US Air Force for installation at two locations because, from a strategic standpoint two locations were needed; Alcoa Cleveland, OH and Wyman Gordon, North Grafton, MA. The two Press Builders were Loewy Hydropress Inc. (Loewy) and Mesta Machine. At Loewy, Zietlin was involved the design and construction of the 35,000 ton press code named "MINOR" and the 50,000 ton code named "MAJOR" forging presses at that time were owned by the US Air Force and installed at Wyman Gordon in North Grafton, Massachusetts, in the early 50's. This program was part of the buildup that was deemed as necessary due what the press technology Germany had developed in World War II and the following subsequent Cold War Soviet threat. There were two other "Minor" and "Major" hydraulic presses and were built by Mesta Machine and were commissioned at Alcoa Cleveland, Ohio, during the same period. Both had the same 50,000-ton forge capacity and were powered by huge High Pressure Water Hydraulic systems with forging flows of 12,000 Gallons per Minute (45,000 Liters/min.) at 4,500 (PSI 310 bar) and even today, with technological advances and all things considered, many heavy forging system engineers still consider a Water Hydraulic System. The Loewy and Mesta press frame designs were quite different, Loewy Presses were a pull down design using columnar plate design as compared to the Mesta design with moving platens with round columns. Both the 50,000-ton presses are listed as National Historic Engineering Landmarks.

In the 1960s Zeitlin continued his work as VP of Bliss Barrogenics of Mount Vernon, NY with his interest continually focused on the heavy press industry. During that period the Soviets had built two 65,000 Metric Tons (72,000-US Tons) presses and were rumored to be building larger presses. Alex Zeitlin was revered by many for his dedicated fervor and love of the US and utter disdain for the Soviet Union government. Later he formed Press Technology Corporation (PTC) of White Plains, NY run by Zeitlin and with his 'right hand' counterpart, Adam Zandel were in the forefront of proposals for larger presses. In the 1980s and into the 90's they were central in promoting and supporting the strategic need, for construction for two 100,000-ton and 200,000-ton Super Presses to be installed at an unnamed site(s) to be determined. PTC had developed complete detailed plans and proposals for all phases of development, design, procurement, manufacturer, transport of components and installation, etc. down to the last detail of these presses and including ancillary equipment. Due to the enormous size and weight of the components, this was a formidable task in and of itself. Suppliers for all major components and systems had identified and bids were submitted ready for Air Force approval. Several ex Loewy Senior Designers and Engineers including Engineers that subsequently worked on the original Presses at Alcoa and Wyman Gordon were ready to step forward to work on this prestigious project. PTC worked with great national pride and Zeitlin spent much of his own time and resources promoting the project with the U.S.A.F. Though as the political scene changed, aircraft frame development progressed in different directions, designs and materials changed, such as utilization of composites this delayed and possibly eliminated the need for these larger "Super Presses". For reference commercially the Loewy press made the 747 main wing beams and for the Air Force all the B2b Stealth Bomber forgings at Wyman-Gordon North Grafton, MA.

Alex Zeitlin's accomplishments and resume' were an impressive 20 pages long and included several key US government and classified military projects including high level staff at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Over the years Zeitlin alone and PTC worked on several other military projects and developed several unique items that resulted in patents. For example, PTC with Zeitlin and Zandel had patented a press frame concept for an enormous 500,000-ton forging press and also patented press designs incorporating composite materials.

Alexander Zeitlin died April 19, 1998, in White Plains, Westchester, NY.

Sources

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