Euthro:
Are you talking about 20 story worker and material hoists, or something else? We can’t see it from here. Why don’t you gather as much sales and engineering literature as you can on your own company’s and your competitor’s equipment, and study it for industry std. details and means and methods. What codes or industry stds. does that industry work to on these products. Then, just good clean engineering design and detailing for all the possible loads and conditions, with attention to good clean assembly details, fool proof details, etc. It should not look fully assembled and usable if important parts are missing. It should be stable during assembly. Keep in mind that your 2000lbs. load limit sign isn’t always followed. Laborers tend to fill up the space or volume, wether it’s feathers or bags of cement. With the design of these specialized products, it is really helpful if you can find a mentor, company project and product history files, etc. Certainly, enlist the help and guidance of knowledgeable people within you company, there should be no shame in that. I would guess this hoist design is not unlike elevator design. Some knowledge of lifting, rigging, cranes, derricks, and the like might be helpful; and textbooks on Strength of Materials, Theory of Elasticity, Steel and Concrete Design, Machine Design, Mechanical Product Design, Fabricating and Welding would seem to be in order.
Good Luck.
