Coventry Cathedral’s illustrious “West Screen” required cleaning by a company that could handle every aspect of this important assignment. This precious glass window necessitated expert handling to avoid damage to the glass itself and the etched images on it. The Cathedral sought the assistance of Universal Aerial Platforms in this enormous undertaking.

Universal made available a Spider FS290 which permitted reaching all interior and exterior spaces of this large screen without interruption within the Cathedral. A spider is ideal in that the spider “legs” offer an extremely stable base that precludes the machine overbalancing. The Cathedral entrance is through the West Screen so it was important to keep that entrance barrier free.

The screen measures 70 feet high by 45 feet wide. The initial vision for the screen was for etched images of all of the saints that had a part in bringing Christianity to Britain. After beginning the work it was seen that the images of the saints needed to be spaced with other images. Images of angels were etched into the glass panes between the saints.

The West Screen by its enormous size and creative vision ranks as one of Coventry Cathedral’s most inspiring aspects. It took more than ten years to complete. Coventry Cathedral commissioned New Zealand creative genius John Hutton to design it in the 1950’s. There are 90 glass plates that measure 8ft by 3ft. Sixty-six of the 90 glass planes are etched with images of saints and angels that all hang within a bronze structure suspended from the Cathedral’s roof.

It was imperative for Coventry Cathedral to contract with a firm that could proceed with the cleaning with confidence that no damage be done to the screen. Advance Cleaning Services, the Specialist Contractor that handled the clean, thoroughly understood the advantages of the new Spider, made available by Univerisal Aerial Platforms, as being a stable way to approach the cleaning of a fragile artwork.

When a situation requires precise placement and reliable operation this machine fits the bill. For cleaning this priceless piece of history in glass the FS290’s unique elements (noise-free, fume-free electric operation, small [0.8] stowed distance across, [3750 Kgs] lightweight size) met every contingency in this delicate assignment.

Forklifts have been one of the breakthrough inventions during the industrial revolution, the origin of forklifts can be spotted back to the period of world war one where the U.S was becoming a hub for materials handling operations. The forklift gained it significance because of its low cost advantage in terms of the labor required to move heavy cargo from one place to the other.

The basic purpose for forklift usage was to lift heavy cargo from one point and to supply it to a destination.  It was used as an attachment to the tractor to lift the bale on to the truck, this process proved to be beneficial, because of the ease in transportation; the same concept was conceived by industrialists to develop superior forklifts with larger loading capacities. As time progressed, with increasingly superior technology forklifts were used for various purposes like construction of buildings, flyovers and other complex structures in industries.

With technological advancement, we can find many types of forklifts which are meant for different purposes and capacities. Usually a forklift comes in various versions, we have diesel and as well as gas powered forklifts in order to lift the load using the fuel energy. The latest advancement however is by the invention of electric forklift which uses electricity in order to lift the load.
Electric forklifts are cost effective and are very eco friendly in nature because of minimal emission of green house gases as compared to the diesel and gas forklifts which emit more pollutants.

With continuous innovation in science and technology, new types of forklifts such as ones powered by hydrostatic drive which is a more advanced type of forklifts available at the moment which helps to bring down the cost incurred in maintenance of the forklifts, hydrostatic drive usually uses fluid system to control the moment of the forklift and thereby giving a cost effective solution for the end-user.

What makes elevator advertising so great is that anyone who walks into the elevator is forced to look at the commercial at some point. You crammed into a tiny space with several other people for at least 30 seconds it’s great to have something there to take your mind off feeling like a sardine.

Image from thecoolhunter.co.uk

Marketers and advertisers have used this in some brilliant and diverse ways from using the space to create an apartment or club setting to creating optical illusions with stickers.  Take a look at the examples above and below. 

People who are afraid of heights may get a shock when entering the elevator above, which seems to reveal a view of the city below.  This image’s is created by a large sticker fixed to the floor, very clever.   The ad was used by a Swiss skydiving school to give people an idea of what it’s like jumping from a plane.

The world’s tallest building, the Taiwan 101 tower, has entered the record books once more as it has been revealed that it has the fastest lifts in the world. The skyscraper’s two high-speed passenger cabins can take people to the top of the 508m tall building in just 30 seconds. That works out at a staggering 17 metre per second speed and has rocketed the tower into the record books once more.  Such is the speed of the lifts that a pressure control system is needed to stop passenger’s ears from popping as they ascend the building.

The towering piece of architecture has 61 lifts in total, 34 of them being uniquely double-decker which will allow for a doubling of passenger capacity. Those visitors who don’t enjoy lifts will be able to avail themselves of the 50 escalators in order to traverse up and down the 106 floors.  Interestingly, the two super-speed lifts do not drop down the shafts as quickly as they rise up them; passengers will have to wait almost a minute to get back down to the bottom of the building. However, this is still phenomenally fast and is hardly likely to result in mass-impatience within the Taiwan sky-scraper.

The record has been achieved with some very interesting technological innovations.  As well as the prior mentioned pressure-control system, there is also an intriguing active-control system which is designed to help balance the lift and thus diminish any vibrations which may be felt by passengers. Also increasing the enjoyment for passengers is a new type of streamlined elevator car itself which is designed to reduce the whistling noise often created as the lift moves up and down the shaft.  This is clearly a passenger system which has been designed with its users, as well as breaking records, in mind.        

These lifts, manufactured and installed by Toshiba, join a half-century tradition of record-breaking lifts with the Guinness Book of World Records first recognising the worlds fastest lift in 1955.   The lift that then held the record moved at less than half the speed of these new creations and proves how much technology has moved on as we leave the first decade of the 21st century. Of course buildings will get taller and lifts will get faster and, it would seem, in terms of breaking records, the sky really is the limit.

The 12,000 people who step through Doncaster Station to use its trains every single day will soon find that their travelling experience is more enjoyable with a £2million renovation and improvement scheme.

At the moment any passengers who wish to use the station but cannot tackle the rather steep and imposing stairs have to use a lift only designed for goods and freight; this is all set to change. A new 16-person lift will be introduced to make access to all the platforms much easier. The improvements are not going to stop there either.  The subway which runs beneath the platforms is also going to get a much-needed overhaul, taking it from drab to fab!  The work is part of a larger plan to transform Doncaster with a new transport interchange which will be built next to the Frenchgate Shopping Centre.   Eventually the Frenchgate, the bus interchange and the station will all be linked together meaning that travellers and tourists will get a much more fluid and accessible experience when they come to Doncaster.

The project also has an important environmental tangent to it; it is hoped that if it is made easier for people to use public transport within Doncaster, and indeed South Yorkshire as a whole, that more and more people will leave their cars at home and opt instead for the public transport network to get them to wherever it is they need to be. You can get on a train in Doncaster and be in London in around 2 and a half hours and so there are some definite high-speed travel links which the city will be hoping to make the most of once this project is complete. The said project has been going on for a while and, Ray Wicks of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive has said, “”The transformation of the station is the last major step in providing a quality integrated transport hub in Doncaster.” Indeed, in such difficult economic times, getting people into the city, be it for business or consumerism, is now more important than ever.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this project though is one of equality.  Andy Hendry of the Doncaster Disabled People’s Alliance has commented that he believes people will be “over the moon” that they will now have a dedicated lift at their disposal rather than being forced to use one not designed for use by people.