A new era in hoists

In 2020 Kito introduced the Kito Electric Chain Balancer: it looks like a chain hoist, but it’s a new product, entirely different from any that Kito has developed before.

As the name suggests, in a broad sense, it’s a machine for maintaining balance. A balancer for a hoist generates power balanced with the weight of the load. It allows the operator to hold the load with two hands and apply light force for fine positioning and horizontal insertion of a part.

There are two modes of operation: float mode and cylinder mode. Float mode allows the operator to position the load by holding it in two hands, which is suitable for assembly. Cylinder mode moves in synchronisation with the operator’s hand motion, which is suitable for fine positioning. Kito says that the electric chain balancer is a crystallisation of its technologies and knowledge built over decades of chain-hoist development. With high-performance control devices built in, it responds quickly to the operator’s motion while being highly durable and easy to operate.

Kazuhiro Nishikawa, the product developer of Kito’s electric chain balancer says, “Visualisation in factory operations is a trendy concept today. Connecting production machines and high-performance computers, manufacturers allow operators to see at a glance, which machine was used in what way. The same goes for hoists and cranes. Soon it will be taken for granted that positioning anything to be assembled will be decided automatically and the operation will be monitored in real time. I’ve given this balancer a pioneering role in that.”