machine foot, glide, levelling glide, levelling foot

Sugatsune self-levelling gel foot keeps tables steady in Japans biggest restaurant chain

News Release from: Sugatsune Kogyo UK Ltd
20/06/2008

An ingenious new self-levelling machine foot or glide is being used by Denny's restaurant chain in Japan to stop tables from wobbling on uneven floors

In America, if you’re looking for a huge breakfast you may well choose a Grand Slam at one of the Denny’s Restaurant chain, a mound of pancakes bacon sausage and eggs guaranteed to stick to your ribs! Denny’s is the largest full-service diner/family restaurant chain in the United States with around two and a half thousand restaurants.

Surprisingly the same chain has a presence of nearly 600 restaurants in Japan selling along the same values but the food looks somewhat different, rice and noodles being more prominent.

Wobbly Tables

One thing they are strong on is the customer experience which might explain why they’ve given some serious thought to the problem of wobbly tables. A table that spills your drink every time you put your elbow on it is a detail that can badly undermine a diners experience and yet can fall entirely off the restaurateurs radar.

The Denny’s table in Japan has a wooden top with metal base and legs. The tables that have been chosen for the Japanese market have a unique embellishment: gel based self levelling feet. These little gizmos do the same job as a threaded levelling glide or foot but far more elegantly as they can auto-adjust when the table is moved, and the folded beermat or menu becomes a thing of the past.

Denny’s have done a deal with the manufacturer of the table for, as you can imagine with 600 restaurants, a lot of tables. And if reports can be trusted they’re very happy with this solution to such an irritating problem.

Gel Pad’s Compliance Levels Table

The little gizmo in question is the SAJ-30 and is available separately and exclusively through Sugatsune. It is very simple and highly effective. It looks like a conventional screw in plastic foot, it has a hard plastic cylindrical shell housing a piston which is bolt attached to the leg of the table. The piston rests on a pad of gel which offers resistance and give.

The user needs do nothing at all, the table will naturally find it’s point of equilibrium on uneven surfaces, no wobbles, no spilt drinks, no irritation.

Originally supplied to be effective at levelling 3mm variations in a floor it is now available in a deeper version that can deal with 6mm bumps, any more than that and there would be health and safety questions to be asked of the premises!

The SAJ-30 is available directly from Sugatsune, on their website or through their distributors.