Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products has this year put its versatile THETA safety electric wire rope winch to work raising and lowering the lighting in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Hamburg’s St. Georg district. This is where 19 new electric wire rope winches from the Pfaff-silberblau brand world have now replaced the previous winches, which still had to be wound by hand.
The electric movement of the chandeliers suspended from the ceiling facilitates the maintenance and cleaning of the lights and saves a lot of time for all the work that needs to be done. THETA electric wire rope winches can be easily operated with a normal supply voltage of 230 V (50 Hz). Specially designed for the static suspension of loads above people, the compact wire rope winch is ideally suited for historic buildings and their lighting technology.
Centre for Catholics in Northern Germany
St. Mary’s Cathedral, built between 1889 and 1893 as a Roman Catholic parish church, is a neo-Romanesque three-aisled galleried basilica made of brick and the first new Catholic church to be built in Hamburg since the Reformation in the city. A major structural modernisation of the building and a refurbishment of the furnishings (pews) and technical systems (heating, electrics, lighting, acoustics) took place in 2007 and 2008. This made the church even more than before the visible centre for Catholics in northern Germany.
Refurbishment of the lighting system
Since then, there have been several technical upgrades, including the re-equipping of the lighting system this year. The company BLH Bühnen- & Lichttechnik Hamburg GbR oversaw the implementation of the project. BLH promotes itself as a general service provider for media and event technology installations. As part of its range of services, the company also offers annual inspections of media technology installations by experts. The company Fuhrmann Bühnentechnik, based in Elmshorn, provided BLH with expert support during the installation of the safety electric wire rope winches.
High safety for static load
The compact THETA electric wire rope winch ensures reliable safety in accordance with the Machinery Directive (2006/42EC) and the DIN EN 14492 standards (parts 1 and 2). In addition, the suitability of the THETA winch for suspending loads above people is confirmed by an expert certificate. The high safety standard is achieved, among other things, by two independent mechanical brakes (double safety spring brakes). They ensure that loads of up to 100 kg are held safely and permanently.
The wire rope capacity in multi-layer winding is approx. 10 m with a wire rope diameter of 4 mm. This length is sufficient to move the lights in the cathedral building from the very top to the bottom so that all maintenance work can be carried out at ground level in the nave. The two-stage spur gear moves the lights in the cathedral with speeds of 3 m/min.
The inexpensive and maintenance-friendly THETA winch is designed for universal application and is very easy to use. It has two limit switches (top, bottom) for lift cut-off, a connection cable with a safety plug and a flexible control pendant with which the wire rope winch can be ergonomically switched on and off to move the lighting systems.
For more information on the Pfaff-silberblau brand THETA wire rope winches from Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products, visit:
This video clip shows typical applications: https://youtu.be/bbPkX5wCKMo
Lighting suspended from the ceiling in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Hamburg (Source: BLH Bühnen- & Lichttechnik Hamburg GbR)
Lighting upgrade in Hamburg’s St. Mary’s Cathedral with THETA safety electric wire rope winches from Pfaff-silberblau (Source: BLH Bühnen- & Lichttechnik Hamburg GbR
A rope length of 10 m is sufficient to move the lights in the cathedral building from the very top to the bottom (Source: BLH Bühnen- & Lichttechnik Hamburg GbR)