Bethlehem Steel generator rotor forging — welding feasibility study

Tom's 1970s consulting at Bethlehem Steel — could a 700-ton generator rotor forging be replaced by welding two smaller forgings, to avoid $2 billion capital investment in new heat-treatment facilities? Tom did not solve it; other technology obviated the need. Used as the case for "largest single product without a joint" and as the historical hinge to battleship-gun-barrel facilities being repurposed for generator rotors.

I was asked when I went to work for Bethlehem Steel in the 1970s to figure out how to take two forgings and weld them together. The heat treatment technology to make that generator rotor forging — there were only two places in the United States that could do it: U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel. There was one place in Japan, one place in France, and some places in the former Soviet Union. But back then it wasn't the former Soviet Union, it wasn't part of the free world, and so we couldn't get it there. The growth of electricity was so fast that we were going to exceed the capacity. Even in the mid-70s, to replace those heat treatment machining centers to handle 700-ton castings was going to cost $2 billion for the manufacturing plant. They wanted to know, could we take some of our smaller plants and weld two forgings together? Now you're talking about welding two pieces that are like three or four foot square weld. It's not an easy problem. I didn't bother to solve it. Other things came along that changed the technology, and they didn't need to do that.