Platform on production and process automation
To ensure that a park bench in public spaces continues to look attractive for a long time, it is also important for it to be resistant to vandalism. Using modern machine components from cushioning specialist ACE Stoßdämpfer, the originally Swiss company ROBI AG has succeeded in developing a bench that meets all these requirements.
ROBI AG specializes in the development and sale of municipal waste disposal systems. The company is best known for the invention of the dog toilet, which has been on the market under the 'Robidog' brand since 1981. With subsequent brands 'Robiclean' for waste bins and 'Robibag' for waste bags, the company enjoys a good reputation throughout Europe among buyers, urban planners and waste experts. This is one of the reasons why ROBI's field representatives also regularly receive questions not directly related to waste.
For many municipalities, it is important not only because of demographics, but also for social reasons, to transform squares and parks into resting places by means of benches. However, a short rain shower can often throw a spanner in the works for an ordinary bench and make it impossible to use the bench for a few hours.
Project Manager Heinz Zumsteg of ROBI AG explains more about the task: "The main aim of this project was to increase the availability of seating in public spaces and thus create added value for the municipalities and their residents. Logically, litter bins are always located near park benches, and a bench is therefore an ideal addition to our existing product range."
A few years ago, a Swiss handyman came up with the idea of a bench that folds up automatically when not in use while being shielded by a roof. For the mechanism, which has since been patented, the inventor thought of using gas springs from the outset. These were to ensure that even children and the elderly could easily push the seat down and it folds up again slowly and smoothly once the person has stood up. In this way, the bench not only stays dry, but also takes up little space and also looks attractive. The latter is a nice bonus, as attractive-looking objects in public are known to be much less likely to become the target of vandalism than, say, plastic street furniture.
However, in order to provide not only a visually attractive but also a high-quality and durable solution, the team from Switzerland searched the Internet for a suitable supplier. Heinz Zumsteg: "We very quickly landed on the website of ACE Stoßdämpfer GmbH. Here we had found the desired gas springs in just a few clicks, and an online configuration tool was available. The decisive factor for us, however, was that we quickly had personal contact with one of the experts from ACE. After all, because it was a new application for us, we wanted to get advice from experts."
After various industrial gas springs were tested in the prototype of the bench, which in the meantime had been named "BANKOMAT," ROBI AG finally opted for gas springs of the type GS-19-250-CA-100N Thanks to the infinitely adjustable extension force of 50 N to 700 N, this type can also be used for other applications without any problems. In this particular case, the defined initial and opening angles and the mass of the seat, among others, led to a desired extension force of 100 N. Since ACE's industrial gas springs are equipped with a valve, they can be precisely adjusted to the desired extension force. And thanks to their small diameter of 19 mm and a length of 564 mm when extended, the two gas springs could be integrated almost invisibly into the park bench. An extensive range of accessories is also available.
The ready-to-install, maintenance-free and closed systems have a long service life and are filled with pressurized nitrogen gas. Here the filling pressure determines the extension force, which can also be regulated afterwards by means of the valve. The benches are now for sale and have already been put into operation in several places.
For cases where not only the product needs to look attractive, but also the gas spring itself is central, ACE also stocks stainless steel versions of these modern machine parts. These are mainly used in medical technology and in the electronics, automotive and furniture industries.
