A look back at Hypertherm's start
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Though Hypertherm engineers and manufactures three different cutting processes — plasma, laser, and waterjet — plus motion controls and software, our sole focus for many years was plasma. As the latest edition of Shop Floor Lasers explains...
"Plasma...would have never been the viable option it is today if it weren’t for Dick Couch, founder of Hypertherm Inc., a global leader in advanced metal-cutting methods. The advancements Couch made some 50 years ago changed the way manufacturers and fabricators would tackle thick cutting jobs moving forward."
Mr. Couch was a young engineer when he and Bob Dean, a professor of his, invented water injection plasma. A little known fact is that the interest in plasma stemmed from the military. At the time, Mr. Dean was in charge of a project to improve the anodes on its plasma jet thrusters for deep space travel. It is that project that planted the seed for Hypertherm.
Read the full story in the May / June issue of Shop Floor Lasers.