Mesta Machine Co. Factory ca 1919

In 1898, Mesta Machine Co. was created with the merger of the Leechburg Foundry & Machine Co. and the Robinson-Rea Manufacturing Co. The merger was the work of George Mesta, who named the resulting company after himself.

As a major manufacturer of machinery for steel mills, the company thrived until the 1950s, but began to suffer when the U.S. steel industry started to decline. Mesta filed for bankruptcy in 1983, whereupon it was acquired by Park Corp., and was divided up in separate entities including Mestek and WHEMCO.

Mesta's extensive product line included such items as gas and steam engines for blast furnaces and forging presses. In the latter category is The Fifty, a 50,000 ton press that was built in 1954-55 and for decades was one of the two largest presses in the world. Owned by Alcoa, it is still used in producing parts for aircraft, aerospace, gas turbines, and more. An article in "The Atlantic" provides more details.

Information Sources

• A library of photographs related to this firm is available online, courtesy of the Historic Pittsburgh Image Collections of the University of Pittsburgh. Some of the history given above was extracted from the company history provided by Historic Pittsburgh.
• A 1919 Mesta brochure is available through archive.org.
• An "Atlantic" article on the Iron Giant press made by Mesta is well worth reading, as is a companion article from boingboing.net.
• YouTube video that discusses the motivation and results of the US Air Force Heavy Press program, which resulted in the Mesta 50,000 ton press. The press and some of its components are shown.