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LiftTurnMove Celebrates 50 Years of the Lodestar with Competition

2005-08-24

John Jones & Lodestar Lift-Turn-Move celebrate the 50th Birthday of the production industrys favourite electric chain hoist the CM Lodestar with a cool competition open to everyone with access to a Lodestar.

The Merseyside-based company run by industry maverick John Jones and a select team of individuals, is highlighting this landmark achievement with a competition to find the oldest Lodestar in Europe.

How to enter

Every Lodestar has a unique serial number from which the age of every hoist can be calculated.

To enter the competition and work out the age of your Lodestar, visit LTMs website: www.liftturnmove.co.uk

All entries must be received by 31st October 2005.

The Prize

The prize will be 250.00 worth of fabulous LTM swag, including a unique special one-off jacket for the winner.

The CM Lodestar

The CM Lodestar hoist, manufactured by Columbus McKinnon based in Amherst, NY was launched in 1955. Since then it has been used for innumerable lifting, moving and rigging tasks in all corners of the world.

Columbus McKinnon reckon they will build the millionth Lodestar this year!

Theres not much in terms of production industry technology thats still in fashion 50 years on says LTMs John Jones So we decided to highlight this incredible fact, a testament to the excellent practical design, engineering and construction of the Lodestar.

Although the Lodestar retains the same classic shape it started with, the interior components have changed, reflecting the latest thinking on safety regulations. One of the major reasons Lodestar users have enjoyed such longevity is that revised parts generally fit in place of older components.

Jones reckons there are about 20,000 Lodestars in Europe. He sold his first units in 1993 to Light & Sound Design (PRG Birmingham) for a Van Halen tour. The first ones came into the UK to Theatre Projects, Unusual Rigging and Neg Earth Lights in the early 1990s, and the oldest one hes encountered to date has been 25 years young on the Disney On Ice show. These were single phase units for repair - after 2 hours on each and a paint job they looked good as new.

Also in 1955

1955 was the year that James Dean died, Dwight Eisenhower was US President, the minimum wage there was raised to $1 an hour and Ray Kroc opened the first McDonalds!

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