Very rarely do people think about what is behind the walls that surround them. Partly because, frankly, there usually isn’t much more than wall studs, electrical wires and some dust. Every now and then, though, people discover some pretty amazing items when they open up their walls.
French received a call from American Heat Treating in Dayton, Ohio, to tell us of such a discovery. While doing some electrical wiring in their maintenance room they came across a false wall, in which they cut a hole to see what was behind the wall. To their surprise, they found an old French Oil Mill Machinery Company hydraulic press.
With the press’s serial number and our historical records we identified the hydraulic press as a 1500-ton upacting column press that French sold in October 1925. We believe the press was originally purchased to mold Bakelite components.
The almost ninety-year-old press is about 12 feet tall and still rests in the pit of a building that appears to have been built around the French hydraulic press.