Sling makes lifting safer
Cranes are often expected to lift a wide range of heavy loads – which can lead to accidents. A crane hook engaging in a lifting eye is fairly safe, cranes are commonly expected to lift irregular, heavy objects using chains and slings
. Because the objects are of different sizes and shapes, it is not possible to hold a collection of chains and slings of widely varying lengths to allow safe lifting of all sizes and shapes.
Shortening continuous webbing round slings by winding them once or several times round the crane hook is not a good idea – it is liable to cause pinching and frictional wear.
Now a German company has patented a way of making a device that makes a continuous round sling into an effectively variable length sling. The VarioSling is sold in the UK by SpanSet.
The device causes a frictional engagement between the different parts of the sling, so that two bands of webbing extend upwards to the crane hook, and two lots of double webbing extend sideways beneath it to the item to be lifted. The lowest part of the sling is hooked up to the VarioSling using a Joker hook. The effective length may be adjusted from 55 to 95% of the normal working length of the sling.
The instructions for using it are: push round sling through top hole, position sling sides over right and left hook opening, insert free end of round sling into Joker hook, adjust sides to working length, and (if hooks are to be used), insert a Joker hook in each sling leg to secure the load