Charles Albert Kunkel

President and Treasurer of Frank Kunkel & Sons, Inc. (Steel Hammered Forgings), and Wolcott Liquidating Corporation. His favorite charity was Boys Town Orphanage run by local priests, and the Columbian Fathers Seminary in Readville, MA. He was known to be a good Catholic and never missed a Sunday of Church, even while living at a nursing home in his last year.

When Charles Albert Kunkel was 21, he was rushed in the police ambulance by Patrolmen John and Andrew R. Smith, to the Forest Hills Hospital, where his name was placed on the danger list. He was suffering from a possible fractured skull, lacerations of the left eye and face. Charles Kunkel, employed by his father, as a blacksmith at Frank Kunkel & Son, Hammered Forgings, at 4 Wolcott Square. While at work he was struck by the recoil of a power hammer, knocking him to the ground. Luckily, he survived and made a full recovery. SEE MORE BELOW***

From childhood, he was known as the Trapper as he continued to trap muskrats and mink, fished for trout, and hunted bear for sport. He also enjoyed golf, stock car racing, and horse racing. He once owned a thoroughbred racing horse, who was know to win now and then. As a child, he lived within walking distance of the famous "Readville Trotting Park", which later was transformed into an auto racing track in the 1920s. Charlie, however, was best known as an avid outdoor sportsman and a lover of nature his whole life.

Frank Kunkel & Son, Inc. was incorporated in 1883 by his grandfather, and was one of the primary employers in the industrial town of Readville at the turn of the century. When Charles A. Kunkel sold the company in 1964 and retired, the company lived on under new ownership and management under the names of "Kunkel Forge" and "Armstrong Metals", as it changed hands a few times, before the business shut down forever in the late 1990s.

Frank Kunkel & Son was fortunate to be involved in a high-growth area of the defense industry. When the war ended, companies specializing in high-technology military systems suffered less from cuts in the postwar defense budget than aircraft or heavy-vehicle manufacturers, or shipbuilders. In large part as a result of the war, Frank Kunkel & Son emerged as a profitable company with major defense sub-contracts from both Raytheon and General Dynamics.

In 2001, the steel industry saw iconic steel companies like Bethlehem Steel fall into bankruptcy due to inexpensive steel imports from Japan and the failure of management to innovate, embrace technology, and improve labor conditions, which contributed to Bethlehem's demise. Critics of protectionist steel trade policies attribute the cause of this lack of competitiveness to American steel producers like Bethlehem having been shielded from foreign competition by quotas, voluntary export restraints, minimum price undertakings, and anti-dumping and countervailing duty measures which were in effect for the three decades preceding Bethlehem Steel's collapse. Consequently, major steel mill towns like Pittsburgh and Allentown today have been reduced to ghost towns. As a prominent company in the town of Readville, MA, "Frank Kunkel & Son, Inc", played an important part in the employment of many families, who worked there over a period of 75 years from 1883 before it was sold in 1967.

"Frank Kunkel & Son Hammered Forgings" is listed in inventory of the “Historic and Archaeological Assets of the Commonwealth of Boston” in October 2014.

The other company also listed as a Historic and Archaeological Asset of the Commonwealth of Boston was the "Standard Oil Company Complex, also located on Wolcott St, Readville, MA.

SOURCES: MassGIS; City of Boston; Massachusetts Historical Commission

Forging is one of the oldest known metalworking processes.[1] Traditionally, forging was performed by a smith using hammer and anvil, though introducing water power to the production and working of iron in the 12th century allowed the use of large trip hammers or power hammers that exponentially increased the amount and size of iron that could be produced and forged easily. The smithy or forge has evolved over centuries to become a facility with engineered processes, production equipment, tooling, raw materials and products to meet the demands of modern industry.

In modern times, industrial forging is done either with presses or with hammers powered by compressed air, electricity, hydraulics or steam. These hammers may have reciprocating weights in the thousands of pounds. Smaller power hammers, 500 lb (230 kg) or less reciprocating weight, and hydraulic presses are common in art smithies as well. Some steam hammers remain in use, but they became obsolete with the availability of the other, more convenient, power sources.

Forging can produce a piece that is stronger than an equivalent cast or machined part. As the metal is shaped during the forging process, its internal grain deforms to follow the general shape of the part. As a result, the grain is continuous throughout the part, giving rise to a piece with improved strength characteristics.[4] Additionally, forgings can target a lower total cost when compared to a casting or fabrication. When you consider all the costs that are involved in a product’s lifecycle from procurement to lead time to rework, then factor in the costs of scrap, downtime and further quality issues, the long-term benefits of forgings can outweigh the short-term cost-savings that castings or fabrications might offer. [5]

Some metals may be forged cold, but iron and steel are almost always hot forged. Hot forging prevents the work hardening that would result from cold forging, which would increase the difficulty of performing secondary machining operations on the piece. Also, while work hardening may be desirable in some circumstances, other methods of hardening the piece, such as heat treating, are generally more economical and more controllable. Alloys that are amenable to precipitation hardening, such as most aluminium alloys and titanium, can be hot forged, followed by hardening.[citation needed]

Production forging involves significant capital expenditure for machinery, tooling, facilities and personnel. In the case of hot forging, a high-temperature furnace (sometimes referred to as the forge) is required to heat ingots or billets. Owing to the massiveness of large forging hammers and presses and the parts they can produce, as well as the dangers inherent in working with hot metal, a special building is frequently required to house the operation. In the case of drop forging operations, provisions must be made to absorb the shock and vibration generated by the hammer. Most forging operations use metal-forming dies, which must be precisely machined and carefully heat-treated to correctly shape the workpiece, as well as to withstand the tremendous forces involved.

There are many different kinds of forging processes available, however they can be grouped into three main classes:

Drawn out: length increases, cross-section decreases Upset: length decreases, cross-section increases Squeezed in closed compression dies: produces multidirectional flow Common forging processes include: roll forging, swaging, cogging, open-die forging, impression-die forging, press forging, automatic hot forging and upsetting.

All of the following forging processes can be performed at various temperatures, however they are generally classified by whether the metal temperature is above or below the recrystallization temperature. If the temperature is above the material's recrystallization temperature it is deemed hot forging; if the temperature is below the material's recrystallization temperature but above 30% of the recrystallization temperature (on an absolute scale) it is deemed warm forging; if below 30% of the recrystallization temperature (usually room temperature) then it is deemed cold forging. The main advantage of hot forging is that it can be done faster and more precise, and as the metal is deformed work hardening effects are negated by the recrystallization process. Cold forging typically results in work hardening of the piece.

Drop forging is a forging process where a hammer is raised and then "dropped" onto the workpiece to deform it according to the shape of the die. There are two types of drop forging: open-die drop forging and closed-die drop forging. As the names imply, the difference is in the shape of the die, with the former not fully enclosing the workpiece, while the latter does.

Open-die forging is also known as smith forging.[8] In open-die forging, a hammer strikes and deforms the workpiece, which is placed on a stationary anvil. Open-die forging gets its name from the fact that the dies (the surfaces that are in contact with the workpiece) do not enclose the workpiece, allowing it to flow except where contacted by the dies. The operator therefore needs to orient and position the workpiece to get the desired shape. The dies are usually flat in shape, but some have a specially shaped surface for specialized operations. For example, a die may have a round, concave, or convex surface or be a tool to form holes or be a cut-off tool.[9] Open-die forgings can be worked into shapes which include discs, hubs, blocks, shafts (including step shafts or with flanges), sleeves, cylinders, flats, hexes, rounds, plate, and some custom shapes.[10] Open-die forging lends itself to short runs and is appropriate for art smithing and custom work. In some cases, open-die forging may be employed to rough-shape ingots to prepare them for subsequent operations. Open-die forging may also orient the grain to increase strength in the required direction.

Advantages of open-die forging, as performed at Frank Kunkel & Son, Inc.

Reduced chance of voids Better fatigue resistance Improved microstructure Continuous grain flow Finer grain size Greater strength

"Cogging" is the successive deformation of a bar along its length using an open-die drop forge. It is commonly used to work a piece of raw material to the proper thickness. Once the proper thickness is achieved the proper width is achieved via "edging".[12] "Edging" is the process of concentrating material using a concave shaped open-die. The process is called "edging" because it is usually carried out on the ends of the workpiece. "Fullering" is a similar process that thins out sections of the forging using a convex shaped die. These processes prepare the workpieces for further forging processes.

Forging of steel[edit] Depending on the forming temperature steel forging can be divided into:

Hot forging of steel

Forging temperatures above the recrystallization temperature between 950 - 1250 °C Good formability Low forming forces Constant tensile strength of the workpieces Warm forging of steel Forging temperatures between 750 – 950 °C Less or no scaling at the workpiece surface Narrower tolerances achievable than in hot forging Limited formability and higher forming forces than for hot forging Lower forming forces than in cold forming Cold forging of steel Forging temperatures at room conditions, self-heating up to 150 °C due to the forming energy Narrowest tolerances achievable No scaling at workpiece surface Increase of strength and decrease of ductility due to strain hardening Low formability and high forming forces are necessary For industrial processes steel alloys are primarily forged in hot condition. Brass, bronze, copper, precious metals and their alloys are manufactured by cold forging processes, while each metal requires a different forging temperature.

Equipment:

Hydraulic drop-hammer

(a) Material flow of a conventionally forged disc; (b) Material flow of an impactor forged disc The most common type of forging equipment is the hammer and anvil. Principles behind the hammer and anvil are still used today in drop-hammer equipment. The principle behind the machine is simple: raise the hammer and drop it or propel it into the workpiece, which rests on the anvil. The main variations between drop-hammers are in the way the hammer is powered; the most common being air and steam hammers. Drop-hammers usually operate in a vertical position. The main reason for this is excess energy (energy that isn't used to deform the workpiece) that isn't released as heat or sound needs to be transmitted to the foundation. Moreover, a large machine base is needed to absorb the impacts.

To overcome some shortcomings of the drop-hammer, the counterblow machine or impactor is used. In a counterblow machine both the hammer and anvil move and the workpiece is held between them. Here excess energy becomes recoil. This allows the machine to work horizontally and have a smaller base. Other advantages include less noise, heat and vibration. It also produces a distinctly different flow pattern. Both of these machines can be used for open-die or closed-die forging.

List of large forging presses, by ingot size[2][30] Force (tonnes) Ingot size (tonnes) Company Location 16,500 600 Shanghai Electric Group[31] Shanghai, China 16,000 600 China National Erzhong Group[31] Deyang, China 14,000 600 Japan Steel Works Japan 15,000 580 China First Heavy Industries Group[32] Heilongjiang, China 13,000 Doosan South Korea

List of large forging presses, by force Force (tonnes) Force (tons) Ingot size (tonnes) Company Location 80,000 (88,200) >150 China Erzhong[31] Deyang, China 75,000 (82,690) VSMPO-AVISMA Russia 65,000 (71,660) Aubert & Duval[33][34] Issoire, France (45,350) 50,000 20 Alcoa,[35][36] Wyman Gordon[37][38] USA 40,000 (44,100) Aubert & Duval[33] Pamiers, France 30,000 (33,080) 8 Wyman Gordon[39] Livingston, Scotland 30,000 (33,070) Weber Metals, Inc.[40] California, United States 30,000 (30,108) Firth Rixson[41] Georgia, United States

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forging