Unified™ Jacking Machines mechanically synchronize the travel of multiple jacks by supplying exactly the same
volume of oil to each outlet so that each jack extends at exactly the same rate regardless of the load on it.
There can be 15 pounds on one jack and 15 tons on another and they will both extend and retract at exactly the same rate.
You can greatly increase the capacity of a unified machine by connecting more than one jack to each unified outlet.
Doing this splits the fixed volume of oil between the jacks connected to the outlet.
If you connect two jacks to an outlet each jack will only extend half-stroke before the main unit runs out of stroke,
then you lock off the jacks, reset the main unit and continue with the second half of the lift.
The limitation to teeing additional jacks to each outlet is that the jack with the least load on it will extend faster than the heavily loaded jack, which means that the jacks that are
teed together must be placed fairly close to each other and the beam between them must not deflect.
Most of the unified machines have enough extra oil in them to be able to connect up to 4 additional jacks per outlet.
There are also 4 additional outlets on each machine which are known as "helper" outlets.
These "helper" outlets receive the same pressure that is on the main ram and that is displayed on the main ram pressure gauge, which is approximately the average of the pressures that appear on the individual jack pressure gauges. They are NOT unified outlets.
The best way to explain how "helper" jack outlets work is to think of a long, narrow house with a heavy fireplace at one end. If you are using 6 jacks you would put a pair of jacks at each end of the building and two in the middle. You find out that the heavy end cannot be raised even with those two jacks at full pressure. You can place two jacks each connected to one "helper" outlet next to each of the two unified jacks under the heavy end of the building. If the jacks at the light end are both at 2000 PSI, and the two in the middle are at 3500 PSI, and the two overloaded jacks were at 6000 PSI, the average and the pressure on the helper outlets will be approximately 4000 PSI. The helper jacks will assist the overloaded unified jacks to lift the load, without traveling faster than the unified jacks and lifting the load off of the unified jacks. If you were to put the "helper" jacks under the light end they would pick
up the load faster than the unified jacks and they would run away with the load. Old timers call the helper outlets "wilds" 'cause if you weren't careful how you used them they would run wild on you!
