Loderway Moving Walkways
The Product and the Company  In the 1990's John Loder developed a new system of retro-fitable moving walkways that were all capable of being installed on existing floors, as the belt surface is only 25 cm (or 9") above floor level. There are many places - existing airports for example - where adding conventional walkways is not structurally feasible but where Loderway systems, both single speed and accelerating, can be readily mounted on the existing floor.
The systems use simple thin slider belts moving over flat metal plates. This design has been used in moving airport baggage and heavy industrial material for many years, but had never been used for moving people despite their many advantages. (Click here to find out why). The single speed system moves people at a conventional speed using one belt; the accelerating systems use a sequence of short belts delivering to a fast central belt running at two to thee times the speed of the first and last belts. The operation of the system can best be grasped by viewing the video. (Click here to download the video)
Current Status
 John Loder has now resurrected a project which has always possessed the fundamental necessities for success; low cost, simple design, and customer satisfaction. This new beginning has been made possible through the support of a major Australian engineering company, The Nepean Group (www.nepeangroup.com) who have more than 900 employees and an enviable reputation for the manufacture of quality engineering products. Nepean Engineering, a member of the group, have been licensed to manufacture the Mark IV Loderway systems, and are ready to respond to requests for systems.
Public Demonstrations
The success of the systems can be judged from their public demonstrations. Both single speed and accelerating systems operated unattended in public for many years without an accident and with considerable public support, and most users preferred them to conventional systems. (Click here for details)
New designs
 In the latter stages of the project all the knowledge that had been accumulated in the several design/test/re-design cycles were incorporated in a new set of designs. and it is this improved system that will be built by Nepean Engineering. The new system has the ability to increase the speed from the first belt to the main belt by 100% with only one handrail each side; from 0.5 m/sec to 1.0 m/sec up to 0.7 m/sec to 1.4 m/sec and anything in between.
Licensees
Another section of this web site will explain why, although three large international companies were licensed to make the systems, no commercial sales were made despite the fact that although there were no problems with cost, manufacturing difficulty, safety, or public acceptance. The project was suspended in the face of this amazingly unlucky sequence of setbacks, but has now been resurrected with the support of The Nepean Group. (Click here for details)
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