British Forklift Attachment Maker Invents New Attachment

Here’s the problem. A company in the United Kingdom that processes scallops called West Coast Sea Products needed a better way to unload cartons of fish from fishing vessels so that they can send them through processing, which takes place on site.

Forklift operator at West Coast Sea Products uses new rotator attachment.
(Courtesy: B&B Attachments)so that they can send them through processing, which takes place on site.

The company contacted material handling products manufacturer B&B Attachments to come up with a solution.

B&B sent a representative to West Coast Sea Products to survey the situation. After inspecting the company’s process of unloading fish, the B&B representatives returned to their company, huddled with staff and developed a 360° rotator attachment that fits onto a Linde forklift. The attachment includes a hydraulic down hold device that handles and turns boxes, which clamps and rotates containers that do not have fully enclosed fork pockets.

Working with West Coast Sea Products, B&B further modified the minted attachment to include “seaworthy” specifications to protect it against corrosion from the coastal sea environment.

To give the attachment the ability to standoff the harsh conditions, B&B painted it with three layers of seaworthy paint and fitted it with galvanized screws and brass profiles. Drilled holes were silicone sealed and the piston rods were prepared with quench polish quench (QPQ), a special type of nitro carburizing case hardening solution that is corrosion resistant. Holes were also added to drain excess water in the flange.

The result is a rotator attachment that turns containers so that the contents can be dumped.

The moral of this story: If you have what appears to be an impossible material handling problem involving a forklift and attachments, just talk to an attachment manufacturer representative and tell him or her what the problem is. They will come up with a solution.