Hoist (device)

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Builder's hoist, with small petrol engine

A hoist is a device used for lifting or lowering a load by means of a drum or lift-wheel around which rope or chain wraps. It may be manually operated, electrically or pneumatically driven and may use chain, fiber or wire rope as its lifting medium. The load is attached to the hoist by means of a lifting hook.

For a given rated load wire rope lighter in weight per unit length but is limited to drum diameters far larger than the liftwheel over which chain may function. Therefore, a high-performance chain hoist may be of significantly smaller physical size than a wire rope hoist rated at the same working load. High speed lifting, greater than about 60 feet per minute (20 m/min), requires wire rope wound on a drum, because chain over a pocket wheel generates fatigue-inducing resonance for long lifts.

A ratchet lever hoist (Come-A-Long).

Both systems fail over time through fatigue fractures if operated repeatedly at loads more than a small percentage of their tensile breaking strength. Hoists are often designed with internal clutches to limit operating loads below this threshold. Within such limits wire rope rusts from the inside outward while chain links are markedly reduced in cross section through wear on the inner surfaces. Regular lubrication of both tensile systems is recommended to reduce frequency of replacement.

The unloaded wire rope of small hand powered hoists often exhibits a snarled "set", making the use of a chain hoist in this application less frustrating, but heavier. In addition, if the wire in a wire hoist fails, it can whip and cause injury, while a chain will simply break.

A hand powered hoist with a ratchet wheel is known as a "ratchet lever hoist" or, colloquially, a "Come-A-Long". The original hoist of this type was developed by Abraham Maasdam of Deep Creek, Colorado about 1919, and later commercialized by his son, Felber Maasdam, about 1946. It has been copied by many manufacturers in recent decades.

A "hoist" normally is used for lifting (near vertical) and a winch is normally used for pulling (near horizontal).

Construction sites, especially for buildings of more than five floors in height, often employ hoists to lift workers and building materials.