Speaking ahead of the show, Dan Phillips, project sales co-ordinator at Doughty, said, "We are extremely excited to give this Articulated Carriage an official debut - it's an item I felt was missing from the Studio Rail 60 range, so I've spent time on the design to ensure it works seamlessly. The Articulated Carriage means our curved Studio Rail to be used for many more applications, including its original use as a curtain track - as visitors to the stand will see, it works well with pieces of our Modular Rigging System, for example."
The Articulated Carriage enables the Studio Rail perimeter tracks to be used for scenery and lighting - a significant benefit to both TV and theatre applications. It consists of a laser profiled 6mm back-bone chassis with independent bogies attached at each end. Both bogies are fitted with guide wheels which steer the carriage around the curves. One bogie is fitted with a large hook for pole operation while the other features a pole operated brake. The Three Point Receiver allows a spigot to rotate freely when corners are encountered, allowing two carriages to work in unison. "The action is similar to that of a train carriage", explained Dan.
The Space Saver Clamp and Atom G Clamp also made their first US appearance. The Space Saver Clamp is designed to help reduce the amount of wasted space that can be an issue when storing clamps, since they are awkward in shape and difficult to transport and store. The Space Saver Clamp folds down to a height of just 50mm - saving 100mm of space per clamp. Made from high tensile aluminium, it has a SWL of 100kg and has been designed so that it does not have to be removed from the item it is attached to for storage.
Launched last month at PLASA, the Atom G Clamp is the 'baby' of Doughty's popular Atom Clamp family and has been designed in response to a customer request for a clamp that is suitable for small architectural luminaires. Mark Chorley, design engineer at Doughty, commented, "As with a considerable number of our products, this item started life as a one-off for a well-known lighting company which was looking for a neat and unobtrusive way to hang one of its architectural luminaires.
"We realised that other companies would also benefit from the design of this clamp which fits 10-25mm diameter truss and has an 8mm diameter fixing hole. We've gained some really valuable feedback from our US customers at the show."
Julian Chiverton, sales director at Doughty, agrees, "Once again LDI has not disappointed us. For us as a company it is as much about the tradition of meeting new customers as it is about showing off our products to the rest of the industry. We invest a lot of time into research and development of each and every one of our products and LDI gives us the chance to meet with our customers in the US and those who come from further afield, who will use our products - from professionals to students - to learn from them and use their ideas and suggestions to develop our products even further."
(Jim Evans)
