Seilklemme für Luftseilbahn

Kuppelbare Seilklemme VonRoll-Habegger VH 400 für Sesselbahnen

Dating

1984 - 1987

Persons

Von Roll Habegger AG (1982 - 1984), Hersteller/in

Description

Kuppelbare Seilklemme VonRoll-Habegger VH 400 für Sesselbahnen. Als inoffizielle Bezeichnung auch VR 103, VR 106 verwendet.

Object type

Object (three-dimensional)

Material / Technique

Metall, Kunststoff

Dimensions

89 x 63 x 92 cm

Inventory number

VHS-9105

Legend

VH 400, Von Roll/Habegger, 1983 The successor to Habegger’s dead-point grip exhibited many operational similarities with its predecessor. Von Roll used a dual version of the system in Anzère in 1987 for what was, at the time, the world’s fastest chairlift (18 km/h). The cable grip innovation The device attaching the chair or gondola to the cable is the central component of any detachable-grip cableway. The invention of a device capable of gripping as well as detaching itself from the propelling cable opened up a whole new world to the cableway industry. The concept has benefited mountain tourism as well as, more latterly, mass transit systems in cities. The first chairlifts featured chairs that were permanently clamped to the circulating cable, which made getting on and off at a constant speed of around 2 m/s something of a challenge. The detachable grip system allows the vehicle (chair or gondola) to be freed from the cable at the terminus and guides it onto a separate, propelling system travelling at less than 0.8 m/s. While rows of rubber tyre wheels slow the vehicle down, the otherwise free-hanging wheels of the cable grip mechanism run on their own rails in the terminus. When the vehicle's cable grip attaches itself back onto the circulating propelling cable, the vehicle returns to its considerably higher speed of between 4 and 8 m/s. The technology underpinning the detachable grip – now capable of exerting a pressure on the cable in excess of 600 kg – and the terminus circulation system have become increasingly sophisticated. The invention of the detachable grip quickly led to a boom in the chairlift segment. The circulating cableway system, to this day, owes its success as a transportation system to its key component – the detachable cable grip.