About domestic press machine immediately after World War II considered through the press machine manufactured by Shikoku machine in 1947

Abstract

The Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology reproduces the production process of forged parts for automobiles from the 1930s to the 1940s, and performs a dynamic display with demonstrations. This time, a complete overhaul of one of the exhibited presses, the 200T press made by Shikoku machine (now Sumitomo Heavy Industries), was conducted. This press machine revealed that it was manufactured immediately after the WWII in 1947. As part of the postwar US government's occupation policy, 600,000 of the 750,000 machine tools remaining in Japan were seized. As a result, press machines were manufactured despite the shortage of reconstruction machines and the supplies. This press machine was manufactured in poor materials and machine tools, so the quality and machining accuracy was insufficient, but there are many traces of repeated skill and ingenuity to fulfill the function of the press machine.