Hydraulic jacks are a cornerstone in today’s self-sufficient garages. Be it for industrial repair or maintenance purposes or personal use, they come in a variety of shapes and sizes to serve all types of vehicles, their service pits and allied requirements.
Designed to lift heavy loads, weights and forces, mainly in the automotive industry, like heavy duty vehicles, cars, sports utility vehicles (SUVs), buses, trucks, etc. hydraulic jacks like Scorpion floor jacks from Stan Design are a useful addition to any trucker’s or other customer’s garage.
Spanning several beneficial and customizable features, like weight, size and portability, lift range, weight capacity, safety, construction material, etc. jacks like Scorpion floor jacks and Scorpion pit jacks have applications in a range of industries.
How do Hydraulic Jacks Work?
An important reason why customers prefer hydraulic jacks over other mechanical jacks is that they work according to the principles of fluid dynamics. In simpler terms, this makes it easier for the end user to utilize in lifting heavy loads effortlessly and efficiently.
A hydraulic jack’s workings are simple. First, let us understand its anatomy. Among other things, it mainly consists of:
- Reservoir or buffer tank
- Pump with piston or plunger
- Pump lever or handle
- Check valve
- Main cylinder or ram
- Release valve
- Handle
The piston is responsible for lifting the heavy load or weight. It is usually mechanically activated by shifting the positions of the handle or pump lever attached to it. This movement builds up pressure in the hydraulic fluid contained inside the reservoir or buffer tank. The pressure created allows the fluid to move through a check valve into the ram or main cylinder, which then pops out of the main body of the hydraulic jack creating the force required to lift the load. Finally, the release valve relieves the built pressure for easy retraction and lowering of the ram with the load on it.
Why Use Hydraulic Jacks– 10 Reasons
Hydraulic jacks, like the Scorpion floor jack, are mainly used by the lay person for the repair and maintenance of cars. Other than that, its industrial use is varied from applications in the automotive industry to a variety of other industries where it is also used for lifting and moving heavy weights, like:
- Aerospace and Aircraft: Aircrafts often take on large amounts of stress in the ordinary order of business. Standard flight operations of everyday requires the need for robust and regular checks and inspection to ensure the competency and safety of the vessels used to transport life and property. Hydraulic jacks form the root of the maintenance operation by assisting in essential ground support.
- Bridges and Cable tensioning: Bridges support extreme tension regularly, by accommodating fleets of vehicles and the movement and sustenance of life. That is why they require daily maintenance which bridge jacks can do. Cable tensioning, a construction method often used in erecting cable bridges, also requires hydraulic system jacks in its production, maintenance and repairs.
- House Moving and Mobile Homes: If you have ever witnessed the procedure of house moving, a method of lifting off a made building structure from one point to the other, you would know that hydraulic jacks come at the core of it. Hydraulic jacks provide the support for lifting the heavy weight of a building off the ground and moving it to the desired location through a series of often repeated steps.
- Construction: Hydraulic jacks are used by construction workers for a variety of reasons other than just lifting heavy quantities of loads or working with great forces. From moving building materials in the bulk to dealing with heavy equipment, or even entire structures, one may find hydraulic jack systems built into forklifts, bulldozers, elevator systems and a range of other products within the construction industry.
- General Industrial: In general industries, hydraulic jacks, like the Scorpion floor jacks, have a single purpose of lifting and transporting heavy loads from one point to another. By the application of fluid dynamics, these jacks are able to support the accommodation and transfer of heavy loads of materials offering considerable and convenient load-lifting solutions to a range of consumer applications.
- Agriculture: In the agricultural sector, hydraulic jacks have been used substantially. From being a part of heavy machinery used for agricultural purposes like tractors, trailers and trucks, to helping in moving goods around and assisting in carrying out repairs on farm vehicles, hydraulic system jacks come in handy for a large range of workers employed by the sector. Farm jacks, with a system like the Scorpion floor jack, are specialized hydraulic jacks used specifically for agriculture.
- Laboratory: In laboratories, usually smaller variants of jacks are used, that employ the use of hydraulic systems, to support a range of equipment for the purposes of research and development. For example, portable lab jacks can act as a support for benchtop glassware or equipment like hotplates, flasks, baths, magnetic stirrers, or any other objects that need a precise height setup to stabilize sensitive objects.
- Marine and Shipbuilding: This industry deals with behemoth machinery and vessels that traverse the known and unknown waters and weather conditions of the world. For transporting passengers to essential goods from one to the other corners of the world, they require a strong build and robust upkeep. That is why hydraulic jacks are required by the marine and shipbuilding industry.
- Mining: The mining industry is an ardent consumer of hydraulic jacks because of the importance of the work it does. To meet the demand of valuable minerals and other natural resources for sustaining the increasing population, the mining industry requires stable jacking to explore its full capacity and potential. Hydraulic jacks come into play here from providing support to shoring up the land to employing stable jacking methods, and more.
- Railroad and Locomotive: The rail industry is a loyal consumer of hydraulic jacks. From the production to the maintenance and repair of rail vehicles, to the production and maintenance and repair of heavy railroad tracks, hydraulic jacks are crucial equipment of the workers engaged in these essential tasks. Bigger hydraulic jacks with robust rotation capacity, or weightlifting capacity are often in high demand by this industry.
Now that you know the 10 reasons why use hydraulic jacks, you would be better equipped to purchase one for your garage. Depending on your vehicle size and use, various hydraulic system jacks like our Scorpion floor jacks or Scorpion pit jacks may assist you in the maintenance and repair of your daily transport system.
