Pfaff-silberblau helps light up St. Mary's Cathedral, Hamburg

23 May 2022

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Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products has put its THETA safety electric wire rope winch to work, raising and lowering the lighting in St. Mary's Cathedral, Hamburg.

It has installed 19 electric wire rope winches from the Pfaff-silberblau brand, replacing the previous winches, which had to be wound by hand.

The electric movement of the chandeliers suspended from the ceiling facilitates the maintenance and cleaning of the lights and saves a lot of time for all the work that needs to be done.

THETA electric wire rope winches can be easily operated with a normal supply voltage of 230 V (50 Hz). Specially designed for the static suspension of loads above people, the compact wire rope winch is ideal for historic buildings and their lighting technology.

St. Mary's Cathedral, built between 1889 and 1893 as a Roman Catholic parish church, is a neo-Romanesque three-aisled galleried basilica made of brick and the first new Catholic church to be built in Hamburg since the Reformation in the city.

A major structural modernisation of the building and a refurbishment of the furnishings (pews) and technical systems (heating, electrics, lighting, acoustics) took place in 2007 and 2008.

Since then, there have been several technical upgrades, including the re-equipping of the lighting system this year.

BLH Bühnen- & Lichttechnik Hamburg oversaw the implementation of the project. The company is a service provider for media and event technology installations. It also offers annual inspections of media technology installations by experts.

Fuhrmann Bühnentechnik, based in Elmshorn, provided BLH with expert support during the installation of the safety electric wire rope winches.

The THETA electric wire rope winch ensures reliable safety in accordance with Machinery Directive (2006/42EC) and DIN EN 14492 standards (parts 1 and 2).

In addition, the suitability of the THETA winch for suspending loads above people is confirmed by an expert certificate. The high safety standard is achieved, among other things, by two independent mechanical brakes (double safety spring brakes). They ensure loads of up to 100 kg are held safely and permanently.

The wire rope capacity in multi-layer winding is approx. 10m with a wire rope diameter of 4mm. This length is sufficient to move the lights in the cathedral building from the top to the bottom so all maintenance work can be carried out at ground level in the nave. The two-stage spur gear moves the lights in the cathedral with speeds of 3m/min.

The THETA winch is designed for universal application and is easy to use. It has two limit switches (top, bottom) for lift cut-off, a connection cable with a safety plug and a flexible control pendant with which the wire rope winch can be ergonomically switched on and off to move the lighting systems.