On fast track to safety
June 1st 2008 Curtis Instruments, in
conjunction with two other
suppliers, has solved a
challenging problem
involving safety equipment
on board Eurostar trains.
Safety Trolley Systems
designs and builds handling
equipment. It was asked for
help by fire extinguisher
maker Kidde Graviner who
had a problem handling
large and heavy fire fighting
cylinders used by Eurostar.
The cylinders, weighing
350kg each, are sent to
Kidde Graviner for testing
and refurbishment and have
to be picked up and rotated
and the contents agitated
while being filled. Cylinders
also have to be rotated +10°
and -10° from the horizontal
while filling takes place.
When the cylinder is full,
the operator needs to take
manual control of its
rotation, and it has to be
correctly weighed. This could
be done by a load cell
system built into the head,
but agitation of the cylinder
posed a problem for STS.
Curtis solved the issue by
supplying two control boxes
with specially written
software. The unit was built
and supplied to Kidde
Graviner. According to Colin
Jones, technical director of
STS, the new unit has made
the handling of cylinders
both safe and efficient. More articles from Curtis Instruments (UK) Ltd.: | 
