Air Film Systems as Applied to the Manufacture of Heavy Equipment

The air film industry, although relatively new, has been widely accepted by manufacturers of heavy equipment. The unique ability of air film equipment to practically eliminate friction and facilitate the movement of heavy, bulky items economically has contributed to the evolution of many new manufacturing techniques.

THIS PRESENTATION WILL ATTEMPT to provide a condensed survey of the utilization of the air film material handling principle in the production and assembly of heavy equipment. This method of load movement, introduced into general industry in the late 1960s, is providing a new avenue to the designer of heavy duty assembly and production equipment. The fundamentals of the air film principle will be reviewed and a survey of current implementations presented. The latter method is used as a graphic means of illustrating the air film principle of load movement as applied to heavy equipment.