News Releases

April 2003

From Boeings to buildings, Pronal delicately gets heavy weights airborne

Multi-layer inflatable lifting cushions are being introduced to Australia that can delicately hoist loads ranging from aircraft and heavy vehicles through to beams, bridge components, building components, industrial machinery and resource development structures.

Pneumatic actuation, isolation and suspension specialist Air Springs Supply Pty Ltd is introducing the latest custom-fabricated lifting cushions from French elastomer engineers Pronal, the organisation that developed the tough lifting tanks used to pluck artifacts from the ocean liner Titanic on the ocean floor.

Pronal's newest cushions range from ultra-thin bags (just 20mm thick deflated) that can lift weights of more than 60 tonnes, to vulcanised Aircraft Recovery Cushions

These are constructed from a specially formulated fabric coated with synthetic rubber that is chemically compatible with environmental agents such as kerosense.

Air Springs Supply Managing Director Mr Andrew Cameron says the Pronal bags combine the advantages of high durability and power with gentle, precisely controlled lifting that can spread the load over broader surfaces of the object being lifted, rather than point loads.

They can also be used in confined spaces underneath loads ranging from aircraft engines and fuselages, through to foundations of bridges, buildings, machinery, pipeline structures and resource development rigs requiring lifting for inspection and repair.

Sometimes is it not necessary or desirable to use cranes, slings or cylinders for lifts that present particular technical challenges in terms of lifting surfaces or surfaces to which lifting force is to be applied. Where considerable investments may be contemplated in custom-engineering a conventional lifting platform, it may be well worth considering the simple principle of pneumatic actuation, he said.

Pronal equipment such as the PAC series of lifting cushions can be supplied with trailers, lifting bases and control systems developed to the demanding standards of Pronal's world-wide customer base, including military and civil aviation applications.

Information about Pronal products can be obtained from the website of Air Springs Supply, www.airsprings.com, or by contacting Air Springs Supply Pty Ltd, 137 Bowden St, Meadowbank, Sydney 2114, ph (02) 9807 4077, fax 9807 6979. Distributors throughout Australia.