{"id":2839,"date":"2024-03-07T12:12:39","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T11:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/encyclopedia\/hydraulic-jack\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T09:53:08","slug":"hydraulic-jack","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-jack\/","title":{"rendered":"Hydraulic jack"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Hydraulic jack: lifting heavy loads with little effort<\/h1>

Hydraulic jack<\/a>s are technically sophisticated tools that can be used to move even very large loads with minimal muscle power. Compared with traditional scissor or screw jacks, they offer certain advantages, but also some disadvantages. <\/p>

Hydraulic jacks: the power of hydraulics<\/h2>

The remarkable effect that hydraulics can generate enormous forces is based on the incompressibility (non-compressibility) of liquids. When a hydraulic cylinder<\/a> retracts in a closed system, an equally sized cylinder elsewhere extends again by the same distance and at the same speed. <\/p>

However, it becomes interesting when the cylinders have different cross-sections. In this case, the force is always multiplied in proportion to the cylinders’ cross-sectional area. A retracting cylinder with half the diameter of the extending cylinder pushes the extending cylinder out with four times the force. <\/p>

Although the extending cylinder moves only 1\/4 of the distance of the retracting cylinder, the slave cylinder can be fully extended through sufficient repetitions or a sufficiently long retracting stroke of the master cylinder. In this way, it is possible to generate enormous forces with relatively little technical effort. One application of this is the hydraulic jack<\/a>. <\/p>

Design and operating principle of a hydraulic jack<\/h3>

A hydraulic jack<\/a> consists of the following components:<\/p>