Material Handling

Allow me to preface my article with a recent accident: A maintenance technician was nearly killed when the tilt cylinder hose assembly that was made by an untrained technician unexpectedly failed, causing the mast to tilt forward and stop a few feet from a steel structure. The victim was apparently spared from severe injury, and possibly death, for two reasons. First, he was wearing a safety harness....More

Closed-loop electrohydraulic motion controller boosts steel producing machine's productivity Appeared in print as "Closed-loop system boosts machine productivity" Ducking dogs slide formed I-beams along the rails of the pusher table (from ......More

Edited by Mary C. Gannon,senior associate editor Pneumatics is often the choice in robotic automation applications, where gripping and turning objects is necessary. But when it comes to soft or flexible objects, robots often have difficulty handling ......More

Edited by Mary C. Gannon, senior associate editor Schmalz’s SAOK vacuum suction pads provide a tight grip on metal surfaces without actually touching the surfaces. Handling structural sheet metal, especially that with oily surfaces, ......More

By Robert J. Sheaf, Jr. A famous zoo had several hydraulic systems that opened and closed overhead gates in the elephant and large cat compounds. An elephant reached through a fence and around the corner of its compound building with its trunk and ......More