Traction Technologies introduces Cinch air-powered winch

The Trucker News Services

12/11/2006

KAMLOOPS, British Columbia, Canada — Traction Technologies has begun limited sales of its new Cinch air-powered winch.

Production sales are scheduled to begin in early 2007, according to Jeff Murphy, product manager, who said the new product totally eliminated the need for a pry bar to secure loads.

“Cinch uses air pressure to tighten standard straps and maintains a preset tension for the duration of a trip,” Murphy said. “The strap tension can be set from zero to over 2,000 pounds and is engaged by a simple two-button operation.”

Murphy said the Cinch had been engineered to put safety first.

“Tension is adjustable to accommodate any cargo type or conditions and the Cinch has been designed to ensure strap tension stays secure, even in the event of a complete loss of air pressure. In addition to maintaining the pawl pin, an air priority valve is used to ensure priority for the service brakes,” he said.

Murphy said conventional winch-tightened straps were measured to lose 50 percent of their tension during the first hour of a trip, often resulting in load shift.

“This loss of tension occurs as a load settles and strap tension is equalized,” he said. “Cinch is a technology designed to reduce the number of roll-over incidents caused by load shift. Load shift is a major factor in roll-over as a relatively small shift of cargo can be sufficient to lift a driving tire and send the truck/trailer out of control.”

Murphy said Cinch would save an estimated 32.5 seconds per winch while securing a load and further time savings each time the load must legally be inspected as straps will require inspection but no tightening.

He said the company anticipated that fleets would be able to integrate the Cinch into their operations as a recruitment tool because of its work-saving capabilities.

Company officials said in a news release that the limited sales would be used to validate return on investment data and substantiate product performance in extreme environments.

Additional information is available at www.cinchit.ca or by calling (888) 372-7676.

— The Trucker News Services