Spanish lifting gear company Elebia has launched a 20 tonne capacity NEO automatic hook specifically designed for lifting bell furnaces.

The company says that the hook is suited to environments where metals are heated to extreme temperatures in movable dome coils. It can also be used for lifting and manoeuvring loads that have an oversized lifting point - up to 100mm diameter.

One of its features is a colour coded LED status indicator that displays green when it’s open and blue when it’s closed, for example. The hook is not able to be used when it is in an intermediate state (red). It will only lift the load once the closure mechanism is locked, indicated by the LED status indicator being blue.

The optional eMax remote control includes a full colour LCD screen and offers the user a variety of information about the lifting application, including weight, hook status, and alarms that alert the operator to overload or unbalance situations.

Chief executive Oscar Fillol said: “In regular lifting operations with bell furnaces, the operator has a limited line of sight and poor visibility of the lifting hook’s position and engagement with the lifting point. The status indicator is an additional safety measure. It can be viewed in all operating conditions and displays on the eMax remote control unit.”

“The hook has a failsafe design that makes it impossible to drop suspended loads. NEO is designed under the same failsafe principles as our automatic lifting hooks and the automatic lifting clamps. It presents a multitude of advantages over standard lifting hooks without a security latch, commonly found in this industry sector, and lifting hooks with a motorised latch. Importantly, hooks without a latch, or when the latch isn’t properly closed, can be tip-loaded, which isn’t possible with NEO.”