Demag's Canterbury Tale

Lifting equipment manufacturer, Demag Cranes & Components, has installed a crane system at Canterbury Cathedral's new purpose built 400m2 stone saw shop on the outskirts of the city, which is operated by the Cathedral's in house team of stonemasons.

Raw stone scants are delivered to the stone saw shop and offloaded by the Demag crane. The crane is then used to load scants on to the saw, where they are cut into smaller block sizes. The blocks are transferred to the masonry workshop, within the Cathedral's grounds, for precision cutting and carving by skilled technicians.

To meet the specific needs of the stone processing operation, Demag supplied an 18.25m span overhead travelling crane, rated at 10t SWL.

Mounted on the crane is a 10t SWL Demag DR-COM electric wire rope hoist. The system has long travel speeds of 20/5m/min, cross travel speeds of 5 to 20m/min and lifting speeds of 4.0/0.7m/min. The system is controlled by a mobile pendant, which allows the operator to position the stone accurately on the saw for precision cutting, maximising yield and reducing wastage of the expensive raw material.