Link-Belt celebrates 30 years in the Bluegrass

Lexington, KY (September 19, 2005) – On Monday, September 19th, Link-Belt Construction Equipment celebrated the 130th anniversary of its founding and 30 years of building market-leading cranes in Lexington, Kentucky. Link-Belt commemorated this milestone with meetings and award ceremonies throughout the day at its headquarters on Palumbo Drive. Mr. Yoshio Hinoh, President and CEO of Link-Belt’s parent company, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd, Tokyo, Japan, attended to make a special presentation to Mr. Chuck Martz, President of Link-Belt Construction Equipment Co.

During the day’s ceremonies, special recognition was made to 63 employees who began their employment with Link-Belt in Lexington with the plant opening in January 1975. Also, another 24 employees were recognized for over 30 year’s employment with Link-Belt. Other activities throughout the day included individual award giveaways and drawings for Anniversary days culminating with SHI and Link-Belt management hosting a luncheon for all employees.

In 1974, the FMC Corporation broke ground for a dedicated manufacturing facility for Link-Belt Hydraulic Cranes. In 1986, Sumitomo Heavy Industries acquired Link-Belt from FMC and consolidated all of its plants and offices in Lexington. Since then the headquarters for Link-Belt Cranes has grown to over 500,000 square feet of manufacturing space and over 500 employees.

The original Link-Belt was founded by a young farm implement dealer, William Dana Ewart in Belle Plaine, Iowa. Ewart concepted and developed a square detachable “link” for chain drive belts on harvesters. Chain drive belts on harvesters of the time wore unevenly and once broken, the entire chain belt had to be removed and taken back to the barn for repairs. Because of the detachable link, Ewart’s chain drive belts could be repaired in the field. As a result, he obtained a patent on September 1, 1874 for an ‘improvement in drive chain’ and ‘link-belting’ became very successful for all types of power transmission and materials-handling equipment.

Over the years, Link-Belt has established a strong legacy for manufacturing premier cranes and has gone on to help build a diversified America, from the Alaskan Pipeline to assisting with the Space Shuttle, from helping save the lives of trapped Pennsylvania miners to digging out from Ground Zero.

Other Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd senior executives in attendance were: Mr. K. Shimizu, SHI Senior Executive Vice President; Mr. S. Nishimura, SHI Senior Vice President, General Manager Corporate Planning; Mr. Y. Takaishi, SHI General Manager Human Resources; Mr. S. Betsukawa, SHI General Manager Corporate Administration; and Mr. T. Nagano, SHI Senior Vice President, who is also CEO of SHI-APD Cryogenics, and Chairman of the Board, Link-Belt Construction Equipment Co.