As the medals tally up for international athletes in the current Tokyo Olympic games, an all-Italian torch design was the focus of Cavagna Group in 2006, with the Italian Group being entrusted by the Olympic Committee to develop the technology that kept the Winter Olympics’ iconic torch’s flame burning.
The Group took the event’s motto of ‘Passion Lives Here’ and incorporated it into the torch’s design phases, evidenced by its lightweight body resembling the tip of a ski and its construction utilising brass alloy with aluminium components.
The torch featured the Group’s exclusive patent, a tap with a small pressure regulator, developed vertically, which led to a nozzle for the gas calibration, that was housed inside between the propylene – butane gas cylinder and burner.
With deadlines tight and the Group being obliged to meet the Committee’s tough requirement for the flame to never be extinguished during the torchbearer’s run, the torch also had to withstand variations in temperature as well as jumps from a trampoline and bobsleigh descents, equivalent to 120 km/h gusts of wind.
In total, the Group manufactured 12,000 such regulators for as many torches, including the torch that entered Turin’s Olympic Stadium on 10th February 2006, held by alpine ski racer Alberto Tomba.