Leaf chain is our business at FB Leaf Chain. FB Chain is the UK arm of the FB Group, owned by Swedish company Addtech AB, and is the leading UK leaf chain supplier and manufacturer.
All FB Chain’s leaf chain and anchor bolts have a highly visible link showing the tracking or batch number which enables the complete manufacturing process to be traced back to its raw materials.
Our leaf chain assembly solutions are tailor-made to ease scheduling and supply-related issues. Leaf chain is cut to length to eliminate stock loss and support lean manufacturing practice. With the addition of chain anchors we take thread to thread responsibility.
BESPOKE LEAF CHAIN ASSEMBLY KITS, DELIVERED JUST IN TIME
Link plates are re-punched to correct the taper that typically results from conventional blanking. The re-punched hole is accurate and parallel which considerably increases the fatigue strength of the chain.
Shot peening fortifies leaf chain link plates and pins against fatigue failure by removing blemishes and creating beneficial compressive stresses on the surface.
The correct seating of the leaf chain elements is assured by pre-loading the assembled leaf chain to increase leaf chain life by minimizing the initial leaf chain elongation.
Your leaf chain is supplied pre-lubricated with superior quality chain oil to give the best possible start to the leaf chain’s working life and avoid the need to apply lubrication after the leaf chain is fitted.
Tensile strength and fatigue strength are superior to most leaf chains and in excess of the two international standards – ISO4347 or ANSI B29.B.
A brief history of leaf chain
- The earliest evidence of the use of leaf chain dates back to 225 BC with records of simple bucket chain link systems being used to lift water from wells in Asia and Egypt.
- In the 16th century, Leonardo Da Vinci sketched designs of plates and pins with metal fittings that bear a striking resemblance to leaf chain.
- In the late 1800s, flat card used in the textile industry looked very similar to what we call leaf chain but was used to transfer rotary power.
- Galle chain, patented in 1874, was the first industrial chain designed for lifting. It added extra outer links to bush chain to increase its strength and was used to lift lock gates.
- Further development of leaf chain is linked to the increased use of forklift trucks during the Second World War.
- Early forklifts used roller chain with the roller removed, however, as lifting capacity increased, more links were added and the bush was also removed.
- During the 1950s and 1960s, most roller manufacturers were producing what we now think of as leaf chain.
- The first standard for leaf chain was published in 1971.