Cool Assembly Line Photos

[Keith Tedford]

When I started my apprenticeship in Oshawa, I walked into a stamping plant of presses like the Danly shown above. There were Brown & Boggs, Verson and others. Pretty intimidating to a kid right off the farm. A hood draw die weighed 30-34 tons. After a while you get used to the cranes moving them around and don't think twice about the size of the stuff that you are working with. I guess ships and skyscrapers make this stuff look pretty small, but it was pretty big at the time for this kid. Most of the methods seen in these pictures were used into the '80s when AGVs and robots really started to take over and change the way cars were being built. When I left the truck plant robots were even installing valve stems in the rims. Neat pictures.