Masonry Magazine January 1978 Page.15
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Total sales of the rough terrain arc/loader forklift in the late 50s and up to the mid-60s were as low as 125 units per year for the five manufacturers (West, Lull, Econmobile, Pettibone and Koehring). As mentioned, buyer resistance was the major obstacle. Mason contractors whose largest previous purchases for powered equipment might have been $500 for a mortar mixer or $2,000 to $3,000 for a building hoist found it difficult to spend $7,000 to $10,000 for a material handling unit.
Sales then were made one at a time, usually to the most progressive mason contractors in each market and almost always by demonstration of a day, a week or longer. And the manufacturer's representative always had to stay with the machine. If he didn't, it was not long before the machine was parked and the job was back to the old way of moving materials manually.
For the manufacturers, it was a long, tedious and sometimes discouraging process to get the arc/loader forklifts accepted in the construction field. In fact, it was not until about 1965 that this type of forklift became generally accepted. Individual pioneers in this effort, in addition to the author, were Len Siemon of Econmobile, Stan West of West Brick Buggy Corporation, "Shorty" Lull and Orin Nord of Lull Engineering, and John Atamiam of Pettibone.
The vertical-lift forklifts fared better in acceptance- attributable for the most part to a considerably lower price structure and simpler operation. Much of the credit for this general acceptance, particularly in the West and Southwest, should go to Mike Simovich of the Champ Corporation. 1 Case Company was also an early leader in the vertical-lift field, not only with rubber-tired units but with a medium size crawler-mounted vertical-lift unit.
In the early 60s, Lull and Econmobile joined Koehring and Pettibone in offering four-wheel drive, torque converter features on their rough terrain models. (The great majority of all types of rough terrain forklifts then were still being powered by gasoline engines.) And the vertical manufacturers such as Case and 1-H followed suit by offering machines with 21 to 30 foot lift heights and load capacities of 1,500 to 2,500 pounds. The arc/loader type forklift manufacturers (Lull and Econmobile) achieved the 30-foot lifting height by adding a vertical lift mast or "tower" to the end of the arc type loader.
The late 50s and early 60s were characterized by a number of significant advances in machinery design. One of the leaders was Koehring, which in 1958 introduced a four-wheel-drive, torque-converter forklift with a variable capacity of 6,000 pounds at a lifting height to 22% feet or 3,000 pounds at 35 feet.
Subsequently Lull Engineering also made its mark when, in 1962, it broke the 30 to 35-foot lift height barrier with a 40-foot machine. (Even today maximum lift heights are still in the 40 to 45-foot range.) The next year, West Brick Buggy Corporation appeared on the scene once again, introducing the first telescoping "shooting boom," which could place loads below grade as well as above.
Early version of the Melroe Bobcat. Units are now manufactured by Clark Equipment Co.
First 4-wheel drive, torque converter unit introduced by Koehring in 1958. The unit embodied many features developed by D.G. Beyer, a Milwaukee mason contractor.
Loed Corporation's "Loed Handler 534 rough terrain unit features a shooting boom with 35 ft. lift height, 6,000 lb. load capacity, and 20 ft. forward reach.
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