Process for the automatic manufacture of drop forging

Apparatus for the automatic manufacture of drop forgings comprising prebending means having two cooperating jaws facing each other and operable to prebend a slit off and stamped workpiece, at least one of the jaws being movable towards the other in a horizontal direction;

• support means positioned below one of said two cooperating jaws for supporting a workpiece, said support means including a grate having a plurality of horizontally spaced apart members for supporting the workpiece;
• transfer means for transferring the prebent workpiece, said transfer means including a pair of pivoted transfer arms having grippers on ends of the arms for gripping and releasably holding ends of the prebent workpiece, the transfer arms being pivotable so that the grippers engage both ends of the supported prebent workpiece, the gripped workpiece being rotated by said transfer arms from a horizontally oriented position to a vertically oriented position;
• and
• a power hammer for forging a transferred and gripped prebent workpiece and having horizontally movable dies for forging the prebent workpiece to a finished product.