The Wonders Of Shock Absorbing Castors

By Author: Mark Farrell
Total Articles: 56
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Almost all industries around the world, whether big, small or medium, make use of castors in some way. The benefits of castors are well known and with the help of the correct model, it is possible to reduce the risk of accident and damage to goods. The idea of infusing shock absorbing springs into normal castor housing is ingenious as it solves a number of tricky problems, namely the reduction of shock and vibration to delicate goods, damage to surfaces and a reduction in noise level.

Most shock absorbing or sprung-loaded castors are made from fabricated black-painted steel. Basically, these castors comprise of a modified housing that has a sprung loaded suspension attached. This allows them to absorb sudden jolts when carrying excessive weights and protects and cushions a sensitive cargo. This is especially useful when dealing with large shipments of fragile cargo in which a shock caused by an uneven surface could damage the load. The rationale in attaching springs to absorb the shock in castors is merely to reduce the shock caused by utilizing a spring deflection strategy. Castors used in industrial settings often ...
... come into contact with harsh surfaces, which can be damaging to sensitive goods. Consequently, by fixing a shock absorbing or sprung-loaded castor the risk of damage to both cargo and to the material handling device is greatly reduced. There is also the added disadvantage of resonant vibration problems when the transport equipment comes in contact with uneven surfaces. These vibrations also travel through the equipment whereby being potentially harmful, not only the goods, but also for the operator.

In industrial situations one of the most disturbing problems is noise level. This can be hazardous to the concentration of the workers, and therefore, reducing ambient noise levels should be taken very seriously. One of the primary contributory factors to noise in industrial plants is the equipment being used. Most of them emit large amounts of noise and vibrations when they come into contact with uneven surfaces, or other machinery.

An effective noise control strategy utilized by a number of industrial plants around the world is the introduction of shock absorbing castors to their machinery. It has been proven to reduce the ambient noise level which in turn contributes towards a higher productivity. Installing shock absorbing castors to machinery and equipment has another benefit in that they increase the lifespan of the apparatus. It is believed that compared to normal castors, sprung-loaded ones are capable of considerably reducing the degeneration of equipment thereby increasing the equipments life-span. Shock absorbing castors are used in many industry sectors including automotive, medical, and aerospace in fact anywhere that equipment is largely sensitive, bulky or heavy.