The request was to develop a lifting device that is attached to an existing crane that would offer a lifting hook stabilizer for automated control of the coil pick-up and drop-off operations. After research we chose the Sarrus mechanism as being the ideal solution and NOT the conventional scissor lift idea. The Sarrus mechanism has many times fewer hinges and moving parts and offered a much more rigid design, which was one of the requests from the end-user. It featured a rotating C-hook to align the hook for both the pick-up and the drop-off. The travelling position would be with the coil lifted to the highest position – to safely pass over the plant below. Normal crane functionality was maintained which allowed both manual and automated control. The Sarrus mechanism featured separate over-load protection that would cause an E-stop should the C-hook get entangled.
