With a normal crane, when any tractor drive is activated, the hoist chain immediately begins to swing. When motion stops, the load continues to swing, making placing of the load very difficult.
Our first Slide Column was made specifically to address a very real problem with a crane carrying engines at a major auto assembler. The swinging of the chain the load made it impossible to keep up with production.
When we installed a slide column to lift engines, very similar to the one pictured, the swinging stopped production increased dramatically. After roughly 13 years, our slide column is still lifting engines meeting production.