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SAFE SHOP TOOLS PRESS RELEASES:
GET A GRIP: NEW HIGH-TECH SLING PROVIDES THE FIRST SIMPLE, SECURE GRASP ON COMPRESSED GAS CYLINDERS. January 1, 2004, MISSOULA, MONTANA: Safe Shop Tools has unleashing the BoaGrip™, gas cylinder sling, the first easy-to-use, adjustable tool for gripping, carrying, and suspending compressed gas cylinders. The company notes that until now, there was no safe, efficient way to handle compressed gas cylinders. Workers often rolled or slid them, or simply lifted them in a bear hug – techniques that carried the risk of ruptured valves, not to mention strained muscles and broken bones. Also, cylinders were often rigged with chains, which could easily slip.
The BoaGrip solves these problems with an ingenious design that also complies with OSHA ruling 1910-102(a) for safe handling of compressed gas cylinders. The new tool is basically a nylon sling with a sewn eye at one end and an oblong steel ring at the other; the sewn eye fits through the ring to form a lasso. But company officials say their big breakthrough is on the sling’s inner surface, which is lined with polymer grippers, each permanently bonded through a proprietary process. When the tool is slipped over a cylinder and pulled taught, the polymer grippers are forced onto the cylinder surface, holding it tight and allowing it to be easily lifted onto devices such as welding or cylinder carts. In addition, an extension bar on the tool’s steel ring prevents the sling from binding or bunching when it is pulled. The BoaGrip adjusts to accommodate cylinders from 4 to 15 inches in diameter. And it stays in place without being held, which allows a single worker to secure a cylinder and then rig it to a hoist, crane or forklift boom. Safe Shop officials note that the BoaGrip evolved over a two-year period of intensive research and development. The head of the Safe Shop development team was a design engineer, who started by testing metal devices like chains and cables, but ruled them out because they scraped cylinders. Instead, he designed a nylon sling with an inner surface covered by molded urethane “gripper” bars . To make this design a reality, Safe Shop spent 12 months experimenting with ways to attach polymer to woven nylon, in the end inventing a unique molding process. The final design underwent extensive field testing, which generated surprisingly good feedback. Safe Shop President Craig Rawlings says, “We knew we had a winner when a large aluminum company sent its test sample back with a purchase order.” He adds that the revolutionary BoaGrip is a revolution for Safe Shop, as well. “We began by providing safety products for wheel-end work on trucks, then for truck technicians in general,” Rawlings notes. “With the BoaGrip, we are expanding to general safety products for dozens of industries.” For more information call 800-327-7639 or visit www.boagrip.com
November 22, 2005
June 1, 2005
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