Revolution winch wins ABTT Award

13th June 2007

The Revolution point hoist, a new product from Unusual, was awarded ABTT Product of the Year 2007- Engineering/Rigging Award at the ABTT awards dinner on Wednesday 13th June.

“The reaction to the product was extremely positive” said Alan Jacobi, MD of Unusual. “We’re delighted. The Revolution has been the subject of a rigorous development programme by a highly committed group of people blending technical skills and live performance experience. We look forward to working with the technical theatre community to deliver tangible benefits in the coming years with the Revolution.”

The seeds of the Revolution were sown in 2001. Like many other service companies in the entertainment industry, Unusual does not support a full time R&D team. All R&D is carried out by core, full time staff, so progress is made only when workload permits. The disadvantage of this approach is that one can easily end up following a moving target as technology progresses.

However, the big advantage is that working experts are in control of the project, ensuring that the end product is relevant, practical and usable. Instrumental in the whole programme was Unusual’s winch and chain hoist manufacturing partner in Germany. From the outset, the plan was to produce a winch which was subject to stringent European manufacturing and testing criteria. The focus was always on producing a product which genuinely extends the current choice in the marketplace.

The Revolution is now part of Unusual’s hire fleet and is scheduled to go into use immediately. Such is the demand for the product that more units are being fast tracked through the specialist manufacturing facility in Germany for arrival late summer. New versions with additional options on travel, loading and speed are now in development for delivery late this year.