How to Read a Load Test for Casket Handles
A load figure is a model figure
A load test figure for a casket handle is a figure for one model, recorded by reference number. The company states that load-bearing models are tested on its own test bench and that results are recorded by reference number, with a record available with the order if requested before order confirmation. That sentence contains the whole method for reading a load test: find the model, find its figure, and check that the figure belongs to that model and not to a family, a category or another model.
The reason a load figure must be read that way is that models within a family differ. The sampled Reference 1001, a Zamak #3 handle, is rated at 150 kilograms per piece, while the sampled Reference 9005, an ABS or PP handle, is rated at 50 kilograms per piece. Both are handles, but their ratings differ by a factor of three, so a figure read without its model is meaningless. The load-testing guide gives the category bands, and the metal handle category page shows why bands must not be used as model ratings.
What a category band is, and is not
A category band is a range published for a family: light or reinforced plastic at 35 to 50 kilograms per piece, standard cast handles at 100 kilograms per piece, metal handles most commonly at 120 to 150 kilograms per piece, and heavy cast handles and swing-bar hardware at 200 to 300 kilograms per piece. A band is useful for choosing a family, because it tells a buyer which families are in the right region for a casket's loaded weight, but it is not a rating for any single handle in that family.
Reading a band as a rating is the most common error in load specification. A buyer who reads the common metal band as 120 to 150 kilograms per piece and then assumes that every metal handle carries 150 kilograms per piece has invented a rating for models that may carry less. The correct reading is: the family sits in this band, and the model sits at a point within it, which must be found on the model's own product page.
Kilograms, newtons and per piece
Load figures on this site are given in kilograms per piece, which means the load that one handle piece is rated to carry. A casket carried by several handles does not simply multiply one handle's rating by the number of handles, because the load is not shared equally in practice, and the rating is a property of the handle, not of the casket. A buyer should therefore compare the single-handle rating with the casket's loaded weight and with the number and arrangement of handles, and should ask the sales team where the arrangement matters.
One guide conversion is published: 150 kilograms per piece is approximately 1500 newtons. That conversion lets a buyer who works in newtons relate the published kilogram figure to their own specification, but it is a guide figure, not a separate rating, and no other conversion is published. A buyer who needs a figure in another unit should ask for it, rather than converting a band and treating the result as a rating.
What a load-test record should contain
A load-test record should identify the model by reference number, state the rating, and state that the test was carried out on the company's test bench. Those three items are the minimum for a record to be useful: without the model, the rating belongs to nothing; without the rating, the record says nothing; without the test bench statement, the record's origin is unclear. A record that lacks any of those three items should be queried, not accepted.
A record should be requested before order confirmation, because the company states that a record can accompany an order if requested before confirmation. Requesting it after the order is placed may mean it is not available for that order, and a buyer who needs the record for a tender or for a customer's specification should therefore ask at enquiry stage, not after delivery.
Decorative pieces and load tests
Decorative pieces do not have load tests, because they are not load-bearing parts. Plain plastic pieces, plastic ornaments and metal ornaments carry no load rating, and no load-test record exists for them. A buyer who asks for a load-test record for a decorative piece has made a category error, and the correct response is to ask instead about finish and size, which are the relevant specifications for a decorative piece.
The same applies to crucifixes and crosses, which are mounted fittings, not load-bearing handles. Their product pages do not carry a handle-style load rating, and a buyer should not expect one. The plastic decorations page and the metal ornaments page both state the decorative status of their families, so that no reader mistakes a decorative piece for a load-bearing part.
A checklist for reading any load figure
First, name the model. Second, find the rating on that model's own product page, not on a category page. Third, check that the rating is in kilograms per piece and that it belongs to the model named. Fourth, compare it with the casket's loaded weight and the handle arrangement. Fifth, ask for the load-test record before order confirmation if the rating is needed for a specification or a tender.
A load figure that passes those five checks can be relied on. A figure that fails any of them, because its model is unnamed, because it comes from a category band, or because it has no record behind it, should not be used as a specification. Reading a load test is therefore not a matter of finding the largest number, but of finding the right number for the right model, with the right record behind it.
Asking for a record in an enquiry
Asking for a load-test record is straightforward if the enquiry names the model and states that the record is required before order confirmation. The wording is: please provide the load-test record for this model, reference number given, before order confirmation, as the record is required for our specification. That wording gives the sales team the model, the document and the timing in one sentence, and it leaves no room for a record supplied after the order, when it may no longer be available for that order.
Where a record is required for a tender or for a customer's specification, the enquiry should say so, because the record may need to be in a particular form or to carry particular information. A record supplied for general purposes may not satisfy a tender's requirements, and discovering that after the order is placed is a delay that a single sentence in the enquiry could have prevented. State the purpose as well as the document, and the record supplied will match the purpose.
Before payment, confirm the model number, material, finish, quantity, lead time and any load-test record for your order with the sales team.