47
MAY-JUNE 2013
access
INTERNATIONAL
30 YEARS OF
ACCESS INTERNATIONAL
OCTOBER – DECEMBER 1994
Insulated solution
One of the most futuristic projects currently
under development is the Aerial Integrated
Robotics Unit. It has been created by a
partnership of Reach All, Pacific Gas &
Electric Co, Kraft TeleRobotics Inc, Chevrolet
Access in Action
JANUARY - MARCH 1994
Access excavator
Swedish contractor Möllehedens Entreprenad
has equipped one of its Orenstein & Koppel
(O&K) excavators with a Palfinger crane
fitted with an access basket.The 13.5 tonne
capacity articulated crane, which gives a
working height of around 23 m, is fitted to the
RH Plus excavator in place of the machine’s
counterweight.The machine is used mainly on
overhead powerline contracts.
In the April issue of
AI
we presented a selection of projects and
products from the long-running Access in Action section which
appeared in most issues of the magazine during the 1990s. Here we
share some more of those sometimes thought-provoking entries
and Reading Body Works.
The AIR platform is designed to allow work
on energised lines 24 hours a day. 365 days
a year in all types of weather. To do this, the
unit provides personnel with an all-weather
operation pod from which two remote
manipulators (robotic arms) give reach of up
to 130 cm and lift 45 kg each.
During hot line work the operators is
dielectrically isolated inside the pod while the
remote manipulators are used to work on the
energised lines.
JULY-SEPTEMBER 1994
Precision drilling
A JLG platform on hire from PTP’s Port Talbot depot
in Wales has been used in a precision drilling
operation by specialist contractor, Castle
& Prior. More than 3000 holes have been
cored in the new Butetown Link tunnel in
Cardiff, Wales. The holes are being used to
fix a massive stainless steel framework for
attaching cladding to the 1.16 km long tunnel
walls. The combination of the platform’s
self-levelling function and the diamond drill
coring led to an average cycle time of around
20 minutes for each 20 mm diameter hole.
Aquatic access
Rather than hold up traffic with a truck-mounted
access platform, maintenance engineers in
Wuppertal, Germany, have taken to the water in a
bid to ease congestion. Up until last year inspection
and maintenance work on the overhead railway was
carried out by a truck mounted unit standing on the
adjacent roadway and reaching across the
river and under the railway system.
Apart from causing severe congestion, the
platform had to be retracted every time a train
approached. In something of a novel solution,
the engineers decided to access the bridge
from the river
with a Snorkel
Economy ATB 60
telescopic boom.
Reports from the
site suggest that
the river-based
access platforms
carried out the works in
half the time taken by the
road-going platforms.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1995
Mighty task
Safi of Italy recently supplied
this specialist equipment to
assist with the restoration of
Turin’s Mole Antonelliana.
A particular problem was
ensuring that the bridge
remained horizontal as it moved
up the inclined roof surface.
High flyer
Schmidt GmbH & Co. Germany
is finding plenty of work for its
Bronto Skylift S72HLA. Claimed
to be the world’s tallest
aerial platform, the unit has
a maximum 72 m reach. The
unit, specially built for Schmidt,
is seen working almost at full
reach on the
Hermes Tower in
Hanover.
High tea
High tea was
recently served
from the top
of Tidy Hire &
Sales’ new Nifty
Lift platform. Zoo kepper Charlie
McKenzie saw the new unit arrive at
Chester Zoo, in the UK, and thought it
the ideal point from which to feed his
giraffes. “High altitude animal feeding is just one
of many tall orders our new fleet of Nifty Lifts can
accomplish,” said Tidy’s Clive Wilmot.
