Solutions in Motion™

In this rodless cylinder video, our experts introduce you to Lanamatic: a Swiss manufacturer of pneumatic rodless cylinders. Through a private label arrangement, Lanamatic products can be found in the United States within the DURATRK™ label here at Branham. 

Learn more about the versatility of the DURATRK Rodless Cylidner Line in our rodless cylinder video:

With “stay at home” or “shelter in place” orders being issued across the U.S.A, we would like to inform you that W.C. Branham Inc. remains open for business.

So, what’s the latest with Elon Musk's Hyperloop project? We know our devoted design and engineering customers are as excited about the annual Hyperloop Pod Competition as we are here at W.C. Branham, so we wanted to update you on a couple of this year’s teams. We have a somewhat proprietary interest in this project, not just because it’s right up our engineering alley, but because over the years several teams have designed their prototype pods using our caliper disc brakes.

We can all agree that we are faced with the difficult challenge of navigating through the unknown of the coronavirus (COVID-19), which has been declared a pandemic worldwide. With many countries on lock down and now designated a national emergency here at home in the United States, our hearts and prayers go out to the people who have been affected by this event – certainly unprecedented.

At W.C. Branham, our slogan says it all: Solutions in Motion. We love a good challenge, and in order to uncover solutions, we’re always thinking outside the box. Or, sometimes, "outside the round" in the case of industrial actuators. That’s how we developed our unique OVLPRO low profile series of pneumatic cylinders.

What does a custom design project look like at W.C. Branham? Here’s an inside look.

Stainless Systems has been a Branham customer since May of 2016, primarily purchasing stainless steel cylinders. Stainless is a necessity in their line of work because many of their industrial equipment customers are in the food processing industry. Everything has to meet stringent cleanliness standards and withstand harsh wash-down environments.  

Out of the blue, the company approached us with a new opportunity – creating a custom right angle gearbox, something completely different. This was a ground-up project. One of their own customers, a Tyson chicken processing plant, needed to replace a gearbox that had been installed a long time ago. Since it was probably custom-designed at the time, no off-the-shelf replacements were available. Could our Branham team help them start over?

W.C. Branham President and CEO Troy Branham introduces our pneumatic actuator line, specifically our new DURATRK™ slot tube style rodless cylinders in this edition of Solutions in Motion.

Simple gears are used to transfer power from one shaft to another, but when the shafts intersect at odd angles, they don’t intersect at all, or you need to change rotational direction of a shaft, things become complicated. It takes a bevel gear to keep things moving. Bevel gear design is commonly used in many industrial applications as well as in all types of vehicles.

On a standard gear, the pitch surface (that carries the teeth) is cylindrical. On a bevel gear, the pitch face is conical. The angle formed by the pitch pace and the axis on which it’s mounted to is called the pitch angle. Often, bevel gears work at right angles, but they can be designed to function at any pitch angle. A hand drill is an example of a tool that uses a 90^o bevel gear.

When choosing actuators for industrial applications, you have to know the amount of force that will be required to perform the job at hand. Cylinders can move, slow, or hold a load -- rapidly and repeatedly, if needed. The force required depends on the load itself – its weight and movement angle, among other factors. An air cylinder force calculator can help you spec exactly the right actuator for the job.

What is a right angle gearbox?

A right-angle gearbox is one in which the driveshaft and the output shaft meet at a 90^o angle, using rotation to transfer power.