Oxyfuel Cutting Torch Enhances Safety with Its Excellent Visibility
Victor Technologies’ ST400 straight torch features the patented contoured handle whose size and shape fits naturally in most operators’ hands.
Posted: December 9, 2013
To simplify use, Victor color-coded the labels for the oxygen and fuel valves for instant identification by indicating directions for open and closed valve positions.
The design of the torch also improves durability in situations where tools receive rough treatment.
The ST400 is compatible with current 300 series consumables and meets or exceeds performance and durability expectations of a Victor torch, the industry’s leading brand.
Victor Technologies (St. Louis, MO) recently launched its Victor® ST400 straight torch, which incorporates the Victor 400 series handle that uses a high strength alloy material for durability and features an ergonomic shape to improve operator comfort. The torch’s three-tube design provides a clearer view of the cutting path, while visual cues on the oxygen and fuel knobs simplify use, enhancing safety.
To simplify use and increase precision, the torch provides excellent line-of-sight visibility with its sleeker three-tube design.
The ST400 straight torch features the patented contoured handle whose size and shape fits naturally in most operators’ hands. The handle uses an engineered zinc-aluminum alloy called Zamak that has three times the tensile strength of brass, so it better resists deformation. The handle is lighter than brass, yet it balances naturally when hoses and attachments are connected. To simplify use, Victor color-coded the labels for the oxygen and fuel valves for instant identification by indicating directions for open and closed valve positions.
“Until now, there was no way for an inexperienced worker to effectively and intuitively identify gas valves,” says John Henderson, group brand manager, Victor Technologies. “The ST400 torch provides operators with the visual acuity necessary for safe and effective oxy-fuel cutting, even if English isn’t their first language.”
Henderson notes that the design changes help companies cope with the retirement of skilled operators and their need to hire younger, less-experienced workers. The design of the torch also improves durability in situations where tools receive rough treatment. The ST400 is compatible with current 300 series consumables and meets or exceeds performance and durability expectations of a Victor torch, the industry’s leading brand.
To simplify use and increase precision, the torch provides excellent line-of-sight visibility. Victor accomplished this by departing from its traditional tube-in-tube design to a sleeker three-tube design (oxy-fuel cutting requires three tubes, one each for fuel gas, pre-heat oxygen and cutting oxygen).
“Our new tube design optimizes cutting area visibility while providing strength and supporting gas flow rate requirements for tip sizes 000 through 6,” says Henderson. The ST400 uses a universal mixer design and mixes the gases in the head of the torch.
Like all Victor torches, it enables operators to use one torch for all fuels (acetylene, propylene, propane, etc.) simply by selecting the correct tips. “Everyone familiar with the cutting performance of a Victor torch will recognize the superior performance of the new ST400 straight torch,” notes Henderson.
Subscribe to learn the latest in manufacturing.
