Hoist for window installations

Following recent success in the US, the Harnser Solutions team are turning their attention to the UK to deliver the same results reported from across the pond.

The Eazi Lifter is a hand-carried hoist weighing 11kg and can "fit behind the driver's seat of a car." It is fitted with a hand operated braked winch loaded with up to 20m of 1.3t SWL Dyneema winch rope, allowing typical lifts up to a fifth story either by a pair of heavy duty replenishable vacuum lifter cups or a sling and hook configuration. It has a SWL of 125kg, with each product leaving the factory tested to 110% of this load.

"Fitting teams from Seattle to Las Vegas have reported significant reductions in installation times, and often with only half the number of personnel," Hoist was told.

The Eazi Lifter sits in a window reveal, allowing one man to wind a 125kg frame straight into position with the turn of a handle. "No ladders, no scaffolding, no stairs, no fuss."

Harnser managing director and Eazi Lifter inventor, Jeff Crowder, insisted that if used efficiently, the Eazi Lifter will double productivity on many sites.

"The beauty of the product is that previously a four-man job can now be undertaken by two fitters," he said, "and when the weather is calm and the lift is straight up, there's nothing to stop one fitter doing the job alone."

Cynthia Becker, health and safety director for Milgard Windows in Tacoma, Washington, said: "At the moment our yearly injury payout totals millions of dollars but with this new kit there is now next to no chance of hurting yourself."

Crowder responded: "Every day you see fitters struggling up ladders with frames too heavy for them to carry, all it takes is a slippery ladder, uneven ground or an unbalanced load and that window could come down, possibly onto a bystander, and the fitter with it."

The Eazi Lifter's structure is made from very strong but light gauge recyclable stainless steel sections which together with an extension kit can extend to 2.9m for tall windows, doors or for applications where the window sill base plate is replaced with a floor mounting base plate.

The hoist's body is installed within the building and the boom arms deploy out through the window aperture. Thrust bearings in the head and base plates allow a pivoting facility so that loads can be moved from in to out and vice versa. "The positioning of equipment inside the building allows fitting to continue through rain, snow, ice and wind and from a safe and comfortable environment," the manufacturer concludes.

For more, see www.harnsersolutions.com.