These pneumatic cylinders were constructed for Leonardtown High School's Theatre programs based on a design by Greg Bell, as published in the USITT TD&T journal in 1996. Greg was also very helpful in sharing his insights / modifications to his original design.
Air-Lifts such as these provide an excellent solution for a common theatrical design challenge: how to keep a castered scenic unit stationary once it is in place, particularly if actors will be utilizing it. We've all used various wagon brakes, wheel locks, jams, levers etc. to accomplish this (perhaps you've even had stage crew hiding underneath the platform to manually hold it in place ;-), but nothing seems to be quite as elegant a solution as simply retracting the casters and allowing the unit to rest directly on the stage until it is time to move it again.
Greg's design provides a low-cost, in-house alternative to more expensive, commercial options and has been an exciting learning process for both my students and myself. When all was said and done, we were able to make 21 air-lift units for $60 each in materials/tools etc. The learning curve involved, and the need to experiment with the production process, was part of the cost for this initial batch and we could now make any additional units at a cost of roughly $30 per unit in materials. Even so, it was a substantial savings over the commercial price of $225 each and saved us over $3,000.
Greg's 1996 Paper:
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