A museum has chosen two ABUS underslung cranes to help in the movement of heavy antiques that needed to be restored. The Victoria and Albert Museum (V and A), London, approached ABUS Crane Systems to assist in finding a sensitive solution for the restoration of high value but often extremely heavy antiques, such as a bust of George III. The museum required a lifting device capable of moving a variety of objects from the most fragile works of art to heavy stone artefacts.Via slings, objects would require being held in a certain position to have broken or chipped surfaces re-bonded. Precise adjustments would be required to ensure that the 'mend' is unseen. The lifting solution also had to operate within a basement room measuring 4m x 4m, and in order to optimise the available space, a bulky support gantry was to be avoided if possible. The V and A museum eventually chose two, which were suspended from the ceiling structure and avoided the necessity for a gantry completely. Each crane was fitted with two hoists, each with the ABUS ABUliner infinitely variable speed control. This arrangement offered a four-point lift and allowed the precision control in three axes that the museum had demanded.
The ABUliner not only allows the speed of the motor to be continuously variable, but it also boasts a very low minimum speed for sensitive operations and its smooth performance virtually eliminates load bounce or swing and extends the useful life of the cranes motors and support structures. Variations in speed are achieved simply by gently increasing or decreasing thumb pressure on the pendant hand set buttons. The crane system was supplied with a four-year guarantee and ISO9001 compliance as standard.
