Glossary

Terms of the
stage machinery

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Work gallery

Working galleries are walk-on steel structures with the character of footbridges, which are arranged on the walls of the stage tower. This is usually done on several levels one above the other. In order to connect the right and left galleries at the same height, the gallery system at the rear of the stage tower can be designed to run all the way around. In the area in front of the proscenium wall, the galleries are interrupted by the portal system. The individual levels are connected by stairs.

Galleries are primarily used for lighting purposes, but often also accommodate control panels for operating the stage machinery. If winches are positioned on the stage walls, the working galleries also provide access for maintenance.
The railings on the stage side of the galleries are usually designed to allow easy installation of lighting equipment (spotlight railings).

Stage machinery

Stage machinery is the entirety of upper and lower machinery.

According to DIN EN 17206:2022, this is “all technical facilities and equipment intended for use on stage and in production facilities for event technology. Such equipment is used to lift, lower and transport loads […].”

Stage podium

Podiums are part of the so-called retractable equipment. Retractable equipment are components of horizontal or inclined or tilted stage, scene or auditorium surfaces that can be moved in a vertical direction. As a rule, both directions of movement (i.e. upwards and downwards) are possible.

In the case of stage platforms, single or multi-storey steel platforms form part of the floor when not in use and can be moved by machine if required for scenic or transportation purposes. If there are several stage platforms, these can cover a larger part of the stage area, which can then be moved together by synchronized movement. However, it is also possible to move them in opposite directions.
The levels of the lower stages can be approached via stage platforms, but it is also possible to move the platforms beyond the stage floor.

The lifting process of the stage platforms can be realized electromechanically with different drive systems:

  • Gear racks (drive racks)
  • Lifting spindles
  • Cable winches
  • Spiral lifts
  • Push chain systems

If the top steel construction level is designed in such a way that the platform elements supporting the stage floor can be mechanically tilted against the horizontal in order to create sloping playing surfaces, this is referred to as tilting decks.

Stage wagon

Stage wagons are platforms that can be moved horizontally on the stage floor and are used to transport scenery between the main and side stages. They are usually mechanically guided on rails. However, freely movable versions can also be realized in which predefined travel paths are implemented using inductive or optical track guidance systems.

The driving components of stage wagons can be located on the wagon itself, as is the case with friction wheel drives or rack and pinion combinations (pinion on the wagon, rack in the stage floor). For this purpose, the stage wagon must be equipped with a corresponding energy supply.
However, solutions are also possible in which the drive is permanently installed underneath the stage floor or near the stage wall, making the stage wagon passive in terms of drive technology. Rope and chain drives as well as inverted rack and pinion combinations (rack on the carriage, pinion in the stage floor) are proven designs in this case.

The sizes of stage wagons are often selected so that they match the dimensions of any existing stage platforms. Stage wagons driven onto the stage area can then be lowered to the same height level as the rest of the playing area through the stage platforms, together with the decorations set up on them.

Revolving stage

The revolving stage is one of the “classic” elements for accomplishing quick stage transformations. Several stage sets can be prepared and constructed on it, and the desired sections can be moved into the spectator’s field of vision by rotating them.

A revolving stage is sometimes a multi-storey construction as part of the lower machinery, into which other stage equipment such as stage platforms or inclinable platforms can be installed if required. With the help of the revolving stage, this equipment can also be rotated into the desired positions.

The surface of a revolving platform can be divided into an outer and inner area that can be rotated independently of each other (e.g. outer ring and core).

Turntable

In contrast to a revolving stage, a turntable is a relatively flat construction. It can either be a permanent part of the stage floor and then permanently built into it, or it can be placed on the stage surface as required. Because it is easier to store, such a turntable can usually be dismantled into individual segments and transported away.

A turntable can also be integrated into single or multi-part stage wagons. It is even possible to fold up and pull up a hinged stage wagon with an integrated turntable.

Intrinsic safety

Intrinsic safety is one of the two main design principles used in the DIN EN 17206 standard (the other is redundancy).

If a component is intrinsically safe, this means that it is oversized by significantly increasing the operating coefficients so that it will almost certainly not fail.

Single-fault security

See redundancy.

Set-up operation

The terms “set-up operation” and “scenic use” are often used to describe supposedly different demands on the safety level of the stage technology used. Set-up operation usually refers to the set-up process before the performance, and the assumption is that no one is underneath the moving upper machinery, for example.

However, when determining the safety level of stage machinery, it is not relevant what is done or when, but how. For example, a set-up situation in which a backdrop is moved upwards with an overhead machinery hoist while several stage workers perform installation work on the floor below requires the same safety aspects as the often-cited “scenic use.”
It is therefore advisable to think on the basis of use cases instead.

The classification “single-setup operation only” can therefore only be used to make claims about the noise emissions of stage machinery.

Iron curtain

See safety curtain.

EMS

EMS is the stage machinery control system developed by TTS itself. It can be used to safely move system parts of the upper and lower machinery for scenic use. It meets the SIL 3 requirement in accordance with IEC 61508 and can be used to control stages in accordance with DGUV Rule 115002:2018 and DIN EN 17206-1:2022.

EMS V, the fifth and latest generation of our control system, has been available for customer use since the end of 2023.
Its predecessors were

  • EMS I (1997)
  • EMS II (2002)
  • EMS III (2007)
  • EMS IV (2013)

EMS is supplemented by the OnStage operating software.

EN 17206

Companies that produce and market machinery are required by law to determine the risks that arise when operating the machinery. These risks must be reduced as far as possible by means of suitable design measures, and users must be informed of the unavoidable residual risks.
Users, in our case the operators of event venues, are also required by law to provide their employees with safe work equipment that is suitable for the intended use.

The DIN EN 17206 standard, which is valid throughout Europe, helps both manufacturers and operators to fulfill these obligations. This standard describes the safety requirements for technical equipment used in event technology. It is not a law, but represents the current state of the art.
Operators can be sure that they are meeting the safety requirements when using a machine that complies with DIN EN 17206. This is because DIN EN 17206 is referred to in the section on the selection of safe work equipment in the DGUV regulation 17/18, which applies to his company and is formulated by the accident insurance funds.
In turn, manufacturers can find valuable information in DIN EN 17206 on how to reduce risks as much as possible by taking suitable design measures.

Flight system

Flight systems can be used to move individual performers in freely configurable two-dimensional trajectories in the area of the upper stage. They are attached to the flight system using a suitable belt.

The flight system itself is a special point hoist winchthat can be attached to one or more load bars of flybar hoists. Both the lift and the transverse travel along the load bar are realized by the flight system. In simpler versions, the lift can be realized via the flybar hoists, the flight system is then only responsible for the transverse travel.

Lift gate

Lifting doors and lifting walls are used in both stage and auditorium areas. In the audience area, lifting walls are used as vertically movable wall surfaces, for example, to flexibly divide a large room into several individual rooms.

In the stage area, lifting doors are used to separate side and rear stages from the main stage area. These side and backstage doors can be designed with a special wall structure as soundproof doors. If they are to form a fire barrier between the different stage areas, the lifting doors correspond to the iron safety curtain in terms of their design and drive technology.

Upper machinery

According to DIN 56920-3:2017-10, upper machinery (OM for short) includes “technical stage equipment above the stage floor, which can be fixed or movable.”
This distinguishes it from lower machinery.

OnStage

The OnStage software serves as the user interface for the EMS stage machinery control system. OnStage is used to enter travel parameter, performance and scenery data. In addition, OnStage uses various views and dialogues to visualize the current status of the entire system, from the general status down to status outputs for the individual drives.

Orchestra podium

Orchestra podiums are podiums that are located between the main stage and the auditorium. Together with their platform, they form a height-adjustable orchestra pit.

Orchestra podiums can also be raised to the level of the auditorium in order to create additional rows of seats for performances without an orchestra. Alternatively, the podium surface can be positioned flush with the stage level to enlarge the playing area. In many venues, these lowering devices are also used to transport material from storage and storage rooms located under the stage or under the auditorium onto the stage or into the auditorium.

The total area of the orchestra pit, which can be raised and lowered, is often divided into two or more sections with their own drive systems, so that several orchestra podiums can be used to adapt to different orchestras with different space requirements.

Stage trap elevator

Stage trap elevators are lowering devices with a platform that is often no larger than 1 m². Although this is relatively small compared to other lowering devices (→ stage podium, → orchestra podium), it is large enough to transport a person from the lower stage to the playing area or to make a person “disappear” from there.

Stage trap elevators can be permanently installed in the stage system. As a rule, however, they can be moved freely underneath the playing area in the lower stage via trolleys, e.g. also on the lower platforms of stage podiums. The playing surface is then equipped with at least one retractable hatch – but often a number of them – whose dimensions correspond to the size of the movable platform of the stage trap elevator, so that passage is possible. These flaps can be opened manually or mechanically to allow access or exit with the use of the stage trap elevator.

Portal system

Gantry systems are steel constructions that define the section of the stage visible to the audience in both height and width in the classic peep-box stage. On the stage side, the gantry system accommodates the necessary lighting equipment. Portal systems usually consist of lateral panels or towers (vertical boundary) and horizontal panels or bridges.

All components of gantry systems can be designed to be partially or fully accessible, even with multiple levels if required. To vary the height and width of the image section, the horizontal and vertical elements can be adjusted manually or, if required, by machine.

Brochure warehouse

Brochure storage systems are often part of the lower machinery as shelf constructions that can be mechanically raised from the stage floor. They can be used to store rolled brochures and notices directly in the stage area.

However, solutions for leaflet storage outside the lower machinery can also be realized. One example is stage technology systems in which the storage rack can be lifted from the stage to a storage position in the fly tower by means of a hoist.

Flybar hoist

A flybar hoist is a technical stage lifting device with a load-bearing device and several suspension ropes, which is used to lift and lower brochures and other decorations.

A tubular steel load bar is predominantly used as the load suspension device. However, aluminum crossbars can also be used, for example.

Nowadays, flybar hoists are designed as winch hoists, whereby all suspension ropes are usually wound onto a common rope drum. This requires a coordinated rope guide (→ roller floor). A line shaft hoist design is also possible, in which each individual rope has its own rope drum directly above the load bar. What both have in common is that the coiled suspension ropes are stored next to each other on the rope drum using a single-layer rope groove.
Another type of winch is the bobbin hoist. Here, each rope is stored in a separate chamber, the bobbin, by winding multiple layers on top of each other.

Depending on the structural conditions in the theater, a flybar hoist can be set up in various places. An existing grid deck is often used for this purpose. In this case, the rope drum axis is usually arranged horizontally and the rope leaves the winch directly to the first rope deflection pulley. A vertical arrangement of the rope drum axis is also possible. This is usually the case with arrangements on the stage walls, often at the height of the working galleries. The suspension ropes then usually require a deflection integrated into the winch in order to be guided upwards.

If a lighting rack is used as a load suspension device for floodlights instead of a load bar, the transition from a flybar hoist to a lighting hoist takes place.

Lifting speeds can be up to 2 m/s, depending on the required application, and payloads of up to 1,500 kg are common.

In addition to modern machine hoists driven by an electric motor, manually operated hoist solutions are also possible. This can be done with the help of manual winches or as manual counterweight hoists, where the load to be moved is largely balanced by counterweights.

Point hoist

Essentially, a point hoist is designed like a flybar hoist, but it is equipped with only a single suspension rope for moving point-shaped loads.

Point hoist winches can be installed in a fixed location or used as a mobile unit.
Mobile solutions can be moved to a wide variety of rope departure positions on the lacing floor level. In the case of permanently installed point hoist winches, the rope departure point can be adjusted by means of rope tensioning, so that variable use is also possible here in line with requirements.

Using a suitable control system, several point hoists can be combined to form a virtual, electronically synchronized flybar hoist.

Also available on the market are point hoists with chains or steel straps as load-bearing means instead of the wire rope.

Redundancy

Single-fault safety is one of the two main design principles used in the DIN EN 17206 standard (the other is intrinsic safety).

This means that a component fault must not lead to dangerous situations. As a rule, this is achieved when safety-relevant components such as brakes or switches for limiting the travel range are designed in duplicate – i.e. in redundancy.

Line shaft hoist

A line shaft hoist is a special type of flybar hoist.

Roller floor

To increase the walkability and usability of a grid deck, the horizontal cable guide can be installed in a roller floor. This is a separate steel girder level above the grid deck. This means that only the vertical suspension cables remain on the grid deck in accordance with the load bar arrangement.

A roller floor and the corresponding design of the laced floor covering allow the free movement and positioning of mobile point hoists.

SHEV (smoke and heat extraction)

In order to enable the smoke extraction from the stage area required in the event of a fire, openings can be provided in the stage roof or in the upper area of the stage house side walls, which open automatically in the event of a fire.

A common design for pitched roofs are smoke vents arranged in the roof surface so that they can be moved towards the eaves. For flat or slightly pitched roof surfaces, smoke hoods can be used in which partial areas of the roof are completely raised. Smoke flaps hinged on one side can be used in the roof area or on the platform side walls.

To ensure opening in the event of a fire even after the regular drive power fails, either the dead weight of the structure is used (e.g. smoke dampers on pitched roofs) or counterweights are provided to overcompensate for the dead weight of smoke hoods, for example. Alternatively, the electrical drive energy required for damper solutions can be provided for a certain period of time via UPS systems.

Hall floor adjustment

The variable use of an event space for a wide variety of uses is significantly increased if it is possible to change the topography of an event space mechanically in the shortest possible time – from a stepped auditorium to a flat hall area. This can be achieved by dividing the hall area into a large number of individual podium areas (→ stage podium) with a corresponding longitudinal and transverse grid.

In addition to this solution, there are alternative solutions that use central lifting beams to achieve these complex spatial changes with many moving partial surfaces with just a few drives.

Grid deck

In most cases, the grid deck is a walk-on steel structure above the stage area directly under the stage roof. It mainly serves as the installation location for the rope deflection pulleys required for the rope guides and as an access and maintenance level for the drive machines of the upper machinery installed there.

The required installation height of a laced floor is approximately twice the height of the baffle corresponding to the maximum proscenium opening plus a surcharge.

Safety curtain

The Assembly Venue Ordinance requires a fire barrier between the stage and auditorium for large stages, which is usually closed and only opened during performances and rehearsals.

This fire closure is typically realized with iron (protective) curtains. These are fire and pressure-resistant steel door constructions that close the proscenium opening virtually smoke-tight when closed. The door leaf is opened or closed in regular operation using electric drives.

In the event of a fire, an iron curtain must close safely within a certain time even after the regular drive power fails. For this purpose, the door leaf’s own weight is used to initiate the downward movement. A lowering brake device ensures a braked free fall and a subsequent gentle touchdown of the door construction on the stage floor.
To extend the structural integrity of the iron curtain in the event of a fire, it can be cooled on the stage side using a deluge system. For this purpose, the structure must be equipped with a water control system.

Alternatively, solutions using foldable or roll-up textile protective curtains with a corresponding fire resistance class are also possible. This can be used if the stage building does not provide the necessary space for the installation of an iron curtain.

Scenic use

The terms “scenic use” and “set-up operation” are often used to describe supposedly different demands on the safety level of the stage technology used. Set-up operation usually refers to the set-up process before the performance, and the assumption is that no one is underneath the moving upper machinery, for example. In contrast, “scenic use” assumes that loads are moved above people or people themselves during the performance.

However, when determining the security level of a stage machinery, it is not relevant what is done or when, but how. It is therefore advisable to think on the basis of use cases instead.

The classification “scenic use” can therefore at most be used to make demands on the noise emissions of stage machinery.

Lower machinery

According to DIN 56920-3:2017-10, lower machinery (UM for short) is “stage equipment located below the stage floor or directly on it”.
This distinguishes it from upper machinery. A distinction is also made between fixed and movable equipment.

Since this definition also includes system parts resting directly on the stage floor, mechanical equipment such as a stage wagon or a turntable are also part of the lower machinery.

Use cases

Use cases for stage machinery are described in detail in DIN EN 17206:2022. A distinction is made between use cases for upper machinery and lower machinery.

Use cases (UC) for upper machinery:

  • UC1:
    Nobody in the danger zone during movement, statically determined load, speed <0.2 m/s
  • UC2:
    Nobody in the danger zone during movement, static indeterminate load, speed <0.2 m/s
  • UC3:
    Person(s) during movement in the danger zone, single axis
  • UC4:
    Person(s) during movement in the danger zone, multiple axes
  • UC5:
    Movement of person(s), single axis
  • UC6:
    Movement of person(s), multiple axis

Use cases for lower machinery, for lifting operations:

  • UC-LSL1:
    Person(s) in a danger zone, no shearing edges, short travel ranges <0.4 m and low risk of falling from the lifting floor, no shared load
  • UC-LSL2:
    Person(s) in a danger zone, no shearing edges, short travel ranges <0.4 m and low risk of falling from the lifting floor, shared load
  • UC-LSL3:
    Nobody in the danger zone, speed <0.15 m/s, no shared load
  • UC-LSL4:
    Nobody in the danger zone, speed <0.15 m/s, shared load
  • UC-LSL5:
    Person(s) in the danger zone, no shared load
  • UC-LSL6:
    Person(s) in the danger zone, shared load

Use cases for lower machinery, for horizontal movements:

  • UC-LSH1:
    Rotation only, person(s) in the danger zone, no shared load
  • UC-LSH2:
    Rotation only, person(s) in the danger zone, shared load
  • UC-LSH3:
    Travel movement, nobody in the danger zone, speed <1 m/s, no shared load
  • UC-LSH4:
    Travel movement, nobody in the danger zone, speed <1 m/s, shared load
  • UC-LSH5:
    Travel movement, person(s) in the danger zone, no shared load
  • UC-LSH6:
    Travel movement, person(s) in the danger zone, shared load

(Source for use case definitions: DIN EN 17206:2022)

Curtain systems

The classic peep-box stage is closed off from the auditorium by the main curtain located in the portal area. The curtain hangs in a track system that enables the opening and closing of curtains divided in the middle (“Greek opening”). The curtain can be moved manually or mechanically.

If the curtain is to be lowered for maintenance purposes or moved upwards out of the field of vision for the “German opening”, the curtain system is hung in a flybar hoist. Special forms of opening, e.g. for Roman and Viennese curtains, are also possible.