Gates Corporation introduces the iLok™ coupling for underground coal mines. An alternative to staple-lock couplings, the high-pressure iLok coupling can be connected to longwall mining machinery in seconds and disconnected in under two minutes to save 90 percent of the labor hours required to move equipment from one coal seam to another. Workers disconnect the couplings by cutting and removing the cable lock and turning the swivel nut two and a half times by hand, instead of prying staples loose with crowbars or hammering equipment. “Gates new iLok couplings are going to revolutionize the longwall mining industry,” said Don Gilbreath, Product Development Engineer at Gates Corporation. “No other high-pressure coupling system offers the simplicity, speed, safety, and strength of iLok.”
iLok couplings offer the following features:
- Simple to understand and use
- Easy to connect and disconnect by hand
- Withstand high impulse applications
- Use a secure, visible locking system
- Release residual pressure away from workers during disconnection
- Compact and smooth to prevent snagging and abrasion
- easy to connect and disconnect by hand
- withstands high impulse applications
- compact and smooth
