Earlier this year, we were contacted by ‘Coating Applications Group’ in Nelson, Lancashire. They had an ongoing problem with loading and running their PVC inspection machine which inspects PVC coated fabric.

Time after time, the air shaft (air bar) didn’t sit in the journal correctly causing ‘reel alignment’ problems and occasionally the serious risk of air bar displacement and total machine failure.

In particular, the machine operator struggled with the old loading mechanism method.

One end of the air shaft sits in a Drive Dog that sits in a collar and he had to lift one side of the air bar out to release the collar.

The idea was to fit a Safety Chuck at the other end of the air shaft. On this occasion, an Alanco-Alamatic Type 40 Plain Safety Chuck was used and the air shaft was modified with a 40mm square end which locates into the 40mm square inserts of the Safety Chuck.

The great advantage of this system is that as the reel starts to rotate, the Safety Chuck Handwheel automatically rotates and closes to the safe/closed position. The handwheel will only open in the safe, vertical position so there is no risk of the bar dropping out accidently.

The whole loading procedure has been radically improved to ensure that the health and safety of our employees is maintained and has saved on loading time and efficiency.