Rotary Union Applications 

Rotating joints are used in many industries and for many types of applications. The clothing and shoes that you are wearing, the food and beverages that you have consumed today, and the car that you drove to work all used a rotary joint somewhere in the manufacturing process. Rotary unions® can always be sold to the end user, who is the plant or mill using the joint in their manufacturing process, or to the OEM (original equipment manufacturer), who is making machinery to sell to the end user. The following review of applications is not intended to be an all-inclusive list; it is simply to give you an idea of the wide range of industries that use Rotary Unions^®.

• Aluminum: Run out tables, reduction mills, recoilers, down coilers, foil mills and rotary ingot molding machines.
• Automotive: An automobile is composed of many parts that use Rotary Unions® in the manufacturing process: metal stampings, plastics, paperboard, glass, steel, cast iron and aluminum castings. In addition, Rotary Unions® are used on transfer machines, double disc grinders, hydraulic chucks, stamping, forming and welding presses, and in spray painting areas.

Duff-Norton 5000 series Rotary Unions® used on a
robotic arm to put urethane adhesive on windshields
and rear windows.

• Building materials: Fiberglass insulation manufacturers use Rotary Unions® on spinner heads and chain washers.
• Can Making: Two piece cans (made of aluminum and steel) utilize Rotary Unions® on the coil feed line (on the double acting hydraulic cylinders) the cupping machines (on the air clutches), the wall ironing machine (on the air clutches and the punch or mandrel), the printer (on the mandrel or spindle) the ink vibrating rolls and the compound linking machine.

Duff-Norton 600 Series Rotary Union is used to transfer
grease under high pressure on an aluminum beverage
can former that crimps the top edge of the can.

• Cement: Force feed lubrication systems and agitators.
• Chemical, Petrochemical & Paint: Batch mixers, flakers, drying rolls, hollow screw dryers, ball and pebble mills, aerosol filling equipment and cooling towers.
• Construction equipment: Power shovels, cranes, yarders, vibrating compactors, rubber tired compactors, tunnel boring machines, stationary drag lines, dredges, back hoes, steam rollers (vibrating compactors) and asphalt pavers.
• Distilleries Breweries and Pharmaceuticals: Grain dryers, closing machines, bottle capping machines, rotating cylinders and filling machines.
• Farm Equipment: Gleaners, corn pickers, combines and mixing machines.
• Floor and Wall Coverings: Calendar rolls, embossers, punch presses and roller coaters.

Duff-Norton 8000 Series Textile joints are used on a
steam roll that heats up vinyl flooring to such a degree
that printed patterns will embed into the material.

• Food: Cereal manufacturers use Rotary Unions^® on screw-type coiling conveyors, flaking mills, shredders, puffers, cookers and sugar crystallizers. Candy manufacturers use Rotary Unions® on chill rolls.

Duff-Norton 9000 Series used to transfer ammonia for cheese processing.

• Leather processing: Rotary Unions^® for steam or hot oil are used on the ironing rolls.
• Lumber and Wood working: Plywood, millwork and chipboard plants use Rotary Unions® on glue spreaders, mixers, yarders and windlasses.
• Machine Tools: Hydraulic clutches, air chucks, hydraulic chucks, vacuum chucks, double disk grinders, deep hole drillers and gun drillers.
• Marine: Forward and reversing clutches and winches on tug boats, ore carriers, steamers, tuna clippers, shrimp boats, oil work boats and ocean liners.
• Mining: Mine cars, torque cars, coal cutters, face cutters, water-cooled drills rock drills, back hoes, clam shell cranes and drag lines.
• Paper: Converting plants: pneumatic joints for the air clutches and brakes on unwinders and rewinders, and on the coating machines, tunnel dryers and laminators. Corrugated plants: corrugator rolls, glue applicator rolls, chill rolls, rewinders and sheeters. Pulp, paper and paperboard plants: rotating shower of the head box unit, on the dryer section, the calendar rolls, the turret winders and the rewinders. Roofing paper & felt plants: hot rolls, cooled rolls, and to control tension on the paper / felt.
• Petroleum: Draw works and air clutches on drilling rigs.
• Plastics: Extruders, polishing mills, rewinders, dicers, scrap choppers and scrap recyclers.

Duff-Norton 9000 Series Rotary Unions^® are used on
a plastic sheeter. The Rotary Unions® supply hot water
(250 degrees F) to the three rolls as the rolls control
the thickness of the plastic sheet .

• Printing: Ink-feed rolls, ink vibrator rolls, chill rolls and unwind stands.
• Rubber: Banbury mixers, extruders, tubers, and calendars.
• Steel: Run out tables, benders, sections, reduction mills, uncoilers and recoilers.
• Textiles: Breaker rolls, slashers, dry can ranges, singers and embossers.
• Tires: Banbury mills (mixers), warming mills, feed mills, sizing mills, sheeters and tire making machines.