What's new
What's new

Lifting device with shock absorber, how used?

Cannonmn

Stainless
Joined
Jun 25, 2016
This device is about 24”x8”x4”. The box on the side appears to function as a shock absorber. The flat black liner inside the blue steel is rubber. The four spools are steel I think. Please tell me how this device was meant to be used.

F6E6CDBF-5CF1-4DDA-878E-21A16E3D13AE.jpgAA7CDFD2-5F78-4349-82E3-8321C2E02B0B.jpg19F6D79D-12C3-4594-AA0F-CAA2DDFCE56F.jpg
 
Last edited:
This device is about 24”x8”x4”. The box on the side appears to function as a shock absorber. The flat black liner inside the blue steel is rubber. The three spools are steel I think. Please tell me how this device was meant to be used.

View attachment 216565View attachment 216564View attachment 216566

Doesn't look like any of the commercial inline shock absorbers I've seen. Nor Google.

Looks more like a device to keep cables from snarling from backlash.

Blast mats need stuff like that - a field-expedient often being a truck tire.
 
Not a lifting device. It has no safe working load marked on it and it's construction prevents any inspection, a requirement for lifting devices. Possibly something similar to skates for movement of loads in a horizontal direction.
 
My first thought is a brake for lowering something with rope. Wind the rope through the rollers and restrain the loose end to control how fast it feeds through the device, sort of like a reverse capstan. Marine use maybe?
 
My first thought is a brake for lowering something with rope. Wind the rope through the rollers and restrain the loose end to control how fast it feeds through the device, sort of like a reverse capstan. Marine use maybe?

Thanks, maybe. I neglected to check whether the “rollers” in fact are free to roll or are fixed. If fixed then what you suggest is certainly possible. I doubt if free-wheeling rollers would be used for braking.
 
Lowering and lifting are two forms of the same thing. There is no mfr, ( at least OP didn't mention it) no safe working load, and no means of inspection, all required for any form of overhead lifting ( or lowering:rolleyes5:).
 
Lowering and lifting are two forms of the same thing. There is no mfr, ( at least OP didn't mention it) no safe working load, and no means of inspection, all required for any form of overhead lifting ( or lowering:rolleyes5:).


Thing is completely unmarked, which is odd and leaves open the possibility that it is some special-purpose fixture made in-house somewhere.
 
Maybe the roller things had a flat nylon straps straps around or on them used in some horizontal tension scenario— forklift towing cart full of glassware or whatever.
 
The fact that the lifting hook (?) is not centered with the rest of the affair is odd, too, and doesn't suggest good results.
 
Thanks, I think others have agreed that it can’t legally be used for vertical lifting for a few reasons they’ve mentioned.
 
Looking at the photos again the axle bolt on the smaller end has unpainted threads, and the head end doesn’t look like it is firmly connected to the side plate. Maybe that last roller is removable. Then the eye of a towing strap could be put over the roller which would then be reinstalled. That end roller lacks the dust scum seen on the others, possibly indicating handling and use. The other 3 rollers could be used for winding up any excess length of the nylon tow strap as these usually come in 20-foot or longer lengths. Still just guessing of course.
 
Doesn't look like any of the commercial inline shock absorbers I've seen. Nor Google.

Looks more like a device to keep cables from snarling from backlash.

Blast mats need stuff like that - a field-expedient often being a truck tire.

Me-thinks It's part of an upper hoist limit switch, The kind you have to check every time you board the crane,before you make a lift, The hook block comes up and hits this bar,And trips out the hoist motor. That's my uneducated opinion,and I'm sticking with it. dave [acme thread
 
Looked at it and “manipulated” it today. The rollers do roll with hand pressure but don’t keep rolling. Rollers are covered with thick layer of rubber, so I’m thinking this may have supported three thick electrical cables, one between each two rollers. If it was made for anything but electrical cables, all that thick rubber wouldn’t be needed.
 








 
Back
Top