From fire to press brakes

Metalworking has been described as an art form, a hobby, a trade and an industry. Hydraulic equipment such as press brakes, c-frame presses or hydraulic guillotine shears are used to shape, bend and cut metals into the necessary parts for building and manufacturing purposes. Although the specific details relating to the history of metalworking are obscure, what IS known is that it is when humans associated fire and metal that metalworking significantly evolved.

Silver and gold
Gold and silver, the easiest metals to extract from the earth, appear to have been the first metals to be transformed. These metals were mainly used to make decorative items such as jewellery.

Copper
Likely the next metal to be transformed was copper. Copper was combined with other metals to form a harder substance: bronze. The Greeks and the Romans mastered the art of casting metal, as witnessed by the many bronze sculptures, coins, utensils and curios which are still present today.

Iron
Iron, the most widely available metal, but the most difficult to work with, was likely the last metal that humans selected to work. Very distinct from other known metals, which could be cast in moulds as a result of their rather low melting temperatures, iron needed to be sufficiently heated and then hammered into the desired shape.

Iron Age
The Iron Age, a time when man learned to shape iron, is celebrated as a period where life changed as iron could be cast. This was a time where items such as tools, utensils, weapons and eventually, machines, could be manufactured using this metal.

Ingenuity
From the ingenious idea of using fire to forge iron, to developing hydraulic equipment which allow metals to be cut, punched and bent into usable pieces; metalworking has transformed our lives.

Press brake
One metalworking machine that has made it possible to form metal into intricate and precise shapes is the press brake. The press brake, a hydraulic machine, “presses” and shapes metal by using force to compress and to bend it into pre-programmed shapes.

From the initial extracting and smelting of metals to produce malleable and ductile materials which can be shaped into tools, equipment and adornments to today’s metalworking processes. The evolution of metalworking allows never-ending shapes and intricate details to be cut, bent, formed and joined. Using machines such as C-frame and H-frame hydraulic presses and press brakes, the possibilities of metalworking are endless.

Since 1980, RK Machinery, a hydraulic press manufacturer has been building hydraulic presses such as H-frame presses, C-frame presses and press brakes. RK Machinery: quality, reliable and safe hydraulic machines. Visit RK Machinery.