Especially in remote, rugged and sometimes muddy or sandy locations – including trenches – it can be difficult to provide crane access overhead or to obtain sufficient clearance and a firm foundation for a lift from underneath.

One way to provide an easy, safe and predictable lift is provided by new ranges of seamless inflatable lifting cushions being introduced to Australia by pneumatic specialists Air Springs Supply.

These versatile Pronal lifting CLP cushions can delicately raise loads ranging from pipelines of all types to trucks, tracked vehicles, beams, bridge components, building components, machinery and resource development structures.

Pronal’s newest cushions range from ultra-thin bags (just 20 mm thick deflated) that can lift weights of more than 65 tonnes each, to powerful spreading cushions that can exert hundreds of tonnes of force to part plant and machinery components for servicing or to extract quarried material. Complementary low-pressure CPB Maxi-Lift cushions can be used on land and under water, offering greater strokes of up to 700 mm (or 1,400 mm where a pair are employed).

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“These are superbly engineered lifting cushions developed for industrial, military and civil tasks by the French elastomer specialists Pronal, the organisation that developed the tough lifting tanks used to pluck artifacts from the ocean liner Titanic nearly four kilometres down on the ocean floor,” says Air Springs Supply National Sales Manager Simon Agar.

“The materials used are so tough and durable that they are used to recover immobilised aircraft, for example, or to lift tanks or split rocks in quarries.

“In addition to the standard models – such as the workhorse 920 x 920 mm square cushion – a major advantage of Pronal cushions is that they can be custom-engineered to particular shapes and sizes to perform particular tasks.”

Mr Agar says the Pronal bags combine the advantages of high durability and power with gentle, precisely controlled lifting that can spread the load over broader surfaces of the object being lifted, rather than putting point loads on pipelines. They are delicate and progressive in operation as they are inflated by compressors or portable air cylinders or pumps.

“Sometimes it is not necessary or desirable to use cranes, slings or cylinders for lifts that present particular technical challenges in terms of lifting surfaces or surfaces to which lifting force is to be applied. Where considerable investments may be contemplated in custom-engineering a conventional lifting platform, it may be well worth considering the simple principle of pneumatic actuation,” said Mr Agar. “This can be particularly so when working in confined spaces, such as trenches and mines, where there is little room beneath pipelines and plant.”

Pronal equipment such as the PAC series of lifting cushions can be supplied with trailers, lifting bases and control systems developed to the demanding standards of Pronal’s worldwide customer base, including military and civil aviation applications.