Nothing To Quip About

Following on from The P.A. People’s recent acquisition of the TheatreQuip business, the team have been busy creating a unique range of motorised hoists designed to span a range of applications, from a simple bar in a school auditorium through to the most demanding professional theatre installation.

The new range will be known as Reference with each product meticulously designed and independently certified to comply with Australian Standards, with the new EN17206 Standard ‘Entertainment Technology — Machinery for stages and other production areas’.

“When it comes to safety in hoisting and winching systems, especially those in theatre spaces which invariably require the suspension of loads above people, we regard it as our duty of care to ensure that we follow the most rigorous of standards,” commented Andrew Mathieson, Chief Engineer at The P.A. People. “The safety requirements of the 2021 edition of the Australian Standard (AS1418) have been relaxed to the point where an appropriate level of safety for a theatrical hoist may not always be realised by complying with this standard alone. We have decided to continue designing and certifying our hoisting products to comply with the 2002 requirements for Special Lifting Applications. This approach exceeds the requirements of the more recent version of AS1418, and ensures we deliver the most rigorous safety outcomes” he said.

The Reference range will include a series of drum hoists that span capacities from 350kg up to 1,800kg and drifts in excess of 20m, alongside the next generation of pile-winding hoists.

The first model from the TheatreQuip family of hoists will be on display at Integrate. The TQP-K650/12 is a novel balanced drive eight-line pile-wind hoist rated at 650kg at 12m/minute. It has a redundant double-braking system, a certified 4-pole safety limit-switch and encoder, slack wire detection, and load monitoring. With a range of unique features including self-balancing twin chain drives, large stepless piles, symmetrical mounting and a simple cable reeving system, the new Reference TQP-K650/12 Pile Hoist is set to become the new standard for pile hoists in the region.

Later in the year at the Entech tradeshow, TheatreQuip will also launch its TQD-A750/12 drum hoist. The TQD-A750/12 is a six wire zero fleet moving carriage drum hoist, rated at 750kg, with a 12m drift and operating at 12m/minute. It features a redundant double-braking system with a full load failsafe brake on the motor and a second silent brake on the drum, a certified 4-pole safety limit switch and encoder, cross and slack wire detection and load monitoring. Higher speed and longer drift variants of the hoist will also be available for special applications.

Both models are in production now, and The P.A. People are taking orders for delivery later in the year.

The P.A. People will be at Integrate Expo, ICC 17-19 August at Stand C.23.