Air Film Turntable Saves Space at Georgia-Pacific Plant

The Hovair Systems Division of British Turntable Co. has supplied a manually-operated air film turntable to Georgia-Pacific in Sheffield to streamline the loading of large reels of tissue paper into processing machinery in the minimum space available. The 3.6 metre diameter unit is similar to one supplied by British Turntable to a Georgia-Pacific mill in South Wales to create the same desired effect.

In operation the paper reels are placed on the turntable by a forklift truck and are then turned through 90 degrees so that the reel of paper can be picked up by a crane, which loads the reel into the machine.

If the forklift truck were used to lay the paper down in the correct orientation for the crane, there would only be space for a single reel to be ready for use at any one time. By using the turntable, however, four reels can be made ready for loading; this also removes the need to use a truck in the area during loading and thereby reduces the risk of accidents.

The turntable has been built with a rotational load capacity of 5 tonnes and a drive-over capacity of 16 tonnes, allowing large, loaded forklift trucks to drive over the flush-fitted unit when it is not in use.

Being air operated the turntable has virtually no mechanical moving parts and requires no lubrication, consequently the abrasive tissue dust does not cause wear of the bearings, nor does this flammable dust become attracted to pockets of grease that may be necessary to lubricate a mechanical turntable, with attendant increased fire risk.

British Turntable Co. acquired Hovair Systems in 2004 to strengthen its expertise in the manufacture and supply of air film bearing equipment. Well-established in the materials handling industry as a supplier of mechanical rotary and linear movement equipment, British Turntable had also developed an excellent track record as a supplier of air film equipment, having designed and supplied mechanisms to move trucks, trains, aircraft and other awkward, heavy loads.

An air film turntable manufactured by British Turntable facilitates the loading of large reels of tissue paper into processing machinery

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