<p>?1557 A metalworking machine such as a punch or shear has a pair of substantially parallel and spaced-apart frame plates which are mounted fixedly relative to each other and which flank a vertically displaceable work slide formed at its upper edge with a T -shaped notch. A hydraulic ram is fixed to the plates and has a flat T-shaped piston rod receivable in the T-shaped notch of the slide for force transmission between the piston and the slide. The piston and slide can be separated from each other by relative lateral displacement perpendicular to the plane of the slide.</p>