Working around retorts has never been an entirely safe job, so starting back in 2016, Allpax, a product brand of ProMach, set out to see what could be done to improve working in this dangerous environment, and called its solution an automated batch retort system (ABRS). In October, 2018, the company devised an automatic loading/unloading method that could be used with its own retorts and those from other manufacturers as well.
In my October, 2018 FE Engineering R&D column, Greg Jacob, Allpax general manager, described a telescopic basket loading/shuttle system that used a push/pull chain, a specially designed chain that could push and pull heavy loads. The telescopic loader could be mounted stationary in front of a vertical lift door retort or mounted with a lift bridge for a swing open door. A shuttle allows the use of a bank of retorts where it can service them as needed with tracks that allow it to traverse from one retort to the next.