We have the luxury of having a wide variety of lifting equipment available through the maintenance side of our parent organization, but we do have some dedicated equipment as well.
My first rule of moving/storing heavy items is to palletize everything possible. Once an item is secured to a pallet (using ropes, straps, screwed to brackets, wood fixtures, etc.) it can be safely moved using standard pallet jacks or forklifts.
How do you get it on the pallet? We have chain hoists permanently mounted on beams in two locations in our shop area and there are several other locations in the building with beams mounted so that a hoist can be attached there if needed. These help us get large aircraft & display pieces up to the concourse level if they're too big to go through the doorways. If the item is not in the museum proper, I can use a forklift and 15ft. chain or nylon slings as appropriate to lift it then slide the pallet under.
The shelving these items are stored on are of wooden construction, three levels high counting the floor level which limits the height of items stored except on the top where there is more clear space below the roof. Were not talking conservation grade shelving here, but the items are generally metal engines, or other aircraft/engine parts that are spare parts rather than historical parts. They can be isolated from the wood pallets by sheet plastic or fabricated brackets and are sometimes coated with preservatives & loosely wrapped in plastic.
I have a dedicated small LP-powered forklift in my remote storage building and another small forklift that stays in the museum is equipped with white rubber tires to not mar the floors. Maintenance has forklifts available for items up to 8-10,000 lbs. We also have both manual & electric floor jacks for moving pallets and an electric pallet lift for stacking them (which is a pain because it has to be maneuvered by hand). Personnel have to be trained & checked out on all equipment before they are allowed to operate it per our risk management staff.
There's really no end to the variety of lifting equipment out in the world. Check out the local Sam's Club, Home Depot, or Lowes for the types of electric lifts they use to move items around the store. And there's no need to spend big bucks for new equipment as there's a big market in used stuff. The same applies to heavy duty warehouse shelving units. Businesses come & go and perfectly usable stuff is available at reasonable prices.
RT
"Stuff is junk we keep, Junk is stuff we throw away!"
Ron Twellman, Curator of Collections
EAA AirVenture Museum
P.O. Box 3065
Oshkosh, WI 54903-3065
920-426-5917
-----Original Message-----
From: Laura Hortz [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 11:25 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: lifting equipment
Hello all,
I was doing some research and thought someone on the list might be able to
help me out.
I am looking into buying some new lifting equipment for my museum. What
types of equipment do you use in your storage facilities to aid in the
lifting of heavy objects (i.e. cast iron stoves, refrigerators, safes)?
Also, does anyone have shelving units where they store heavy items on high
shelves? If so, what sort of machinery do you have to raise and lower your
artifacts.
Thanks in advance for your help and that backs of my staff also thank you!
Sincerely,
Laura L. Hortz
Curator of Collections
Siouxland Heritage Museums
Sioux Falls, SD
605-367-4120 ext. 3021
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