Cushions much like the ones on your couch right now are designed to take the impact force that comes from the piston moving quickly and abruptly stop when coming in contact with the Head or Cap. While this can happen occasionally without major damage to the cylinder, over time this impact loading can cause the tie rods to fail due to fatigue loading, or can cause excess compression loading to the piston, head or cap. This causes distortion of these parts which will ultimately lead to cylinder failure.

Piston sealing is critical to proper cylinder function.  Piston seals keep fluid from bypassing the piston which would otherwise reduce the pressure differential across the piston and in turn reduce the available force for the cylinder to perform work.

 On the first day of December my rep sent to me...

Well, if that isn't a loaded question. Over the years more people than you would expect have proposed this puzzle and while there may be no single answer to this complex query, there are many variables to consider in attempting to answer it -- so let's start there.

You know that moment when you realize the solution you've been looking for all along is staring you straight in the face? That moment when you realize the answer to all the complications, anomalies and variables you've been dealing with is something so simple... yet so significant.

Well, that's really how we'd sum up the introduction of our new cushion adjusting screw design -- the cushion captivator.

If you’ve ever been drenched with hydraulic fluid during your career in control engineering; you may have remarked on the fact that it’s ‘dirty stuff’! Upon reflection, and when the shock died down, you knew that you were just reacting to a situation and really using the words incorrectly. However, when you look more deeply into the subject of fluids, in certain instances they really can be termed dirty.

There was a time, almost a generation ago, when the HH range of cylinders used an array of (normally) four metallic rings as the piston seal. Their function was much along the lines of the ones used in a car engine to this day.

These rings were inert to more or less anything the world threw at them. Heat was an easy task, aggressive fluids no problem and the working surface was so hard that the tube was more likely to wear over time than the seals were to lose their size.

While we at Sheffer don't provide hydraulic power units, these are invariably used in a majority of hydraulic applications to drive our cylinders. By looking at the system as a whole, in many cases hydraulics can provide a more cost effective solution especially when long-term energy costs are considered.

Many of our distributors can provide complete solutions and technical assistance regarding power units and a comprehensive hydraulic solution incorporating Sheffer cylinders.