Remember when the Incredible Hulk got transformed from a mild-mannered scientist into a raging green monster by being exposed to radiation? The event may have been fiction, but the ginormous device that transformed Hulk is real—and Hamilton casters are tough enough to carry it.
Called Gammasphere, it's one of the world's most powerful spectrometers for studying nuclear structures. Our friends at Argonne National Laboratory use this 14-ton nuclear physics powerhouse to study unstable nuclei. They needed more stable, adjustable casters to move it through different areas of their ATLAS linear accelerator testing facility.
"A lot of expensive equipment is riding on these casters—they can't fail," explained Argonne Engineering Specialist Russell Knaack. "The casters we were previously using were off-the-shelf, at a fixed height and had no swivel offset. They weren't doing what we wanted them to do."
So Knaack contacted our team of engineers at Hamilton to design custom, heavy-duty swivel casters that could fit on Argonne's existing support structure used for moving Gammasphere throughout ATLAS testing stations. The casters are adjustable in height and are designed to have a full range of motion within the tight space constraints of the existing design.
Every year, hundreds of scientists use Gammasphere to detect (not produce, like in the movie) and study odd-shaped nuclei in an effort to probe some of the more tenacious conundrums of subatomic physics. The machine has even been used to search for violations in the laws that govern time.
We're pretty used to specializing in exotic hauls by now, but this one made us extra proud to do our part for science.
XC0501 – Adjustable height caster
- Capacity: 5,000 pounds
- Wheels: 6" x 3"
- Installed Height: 12" – 14.25"
- Top Plate: 5.25" x 7.25"
- Bolt Holes: 3.75" x 5.688"
- Offset: .75"
- Designed for recommended 1/2" Mounting Bolts