In the mid 1950s, Alvar Lindmark, the inventor and founder of Alimak, presented a whole new concept for vertical transportation, inspired by the old traditional story of Jacob’s Ladder. The idea was to offer the construction and mining industry a replacement for old and dangerous equipment with an easy-to-assemble, easy-to-use system that combined hoist and work platform.
The invention got a very warm welcome, and the rack and pinion concept – as the name was changed into when moving from idea to finished product – soon became the preferred solution for the construction industry as well as for leading mining companies.
A Solution for the Highest, Coldest and Warmest
50 years after the introduction, this invention is one of the main reasons why Alimak Hek is today the market leader in vertical access for the construction and general industry. Rack and pinion-based equipment is used in projects throughout the world wherever reliability, productivity and safety are important factors: from the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Statue of Liberty in New York, to housing complexes in Mecca, Saudi Arabia; from buildings in extreme cold (such as a research station in the Antarctic) to desert and offshore-based projects.
Eight out of the ten of the highest building projects in the world have chosen Alimak rack and pinion hoists (among them the 508m Taipei 101 building). The highest bridge in the world (The Millau Viaduct that connects the international highway between Paris and Barcelona) and Europe’s highest residential block (the spectacular Turning Torso, Malmö, Sweden) have also made use of Alimak rack and pinion hoists.
30,000+ and still climbing
Today, more than 30,000 Alimak Hek rack and pinion solutions have been delivered world-wide, including Alimak Raise Climbers for raise driving in mines and civil engineering projects under ground, Hek mast-climbing work platforms and transport platforms for all types of construction projects, Alimak Industrial lifts, and the ALIMAK SCANDO construction hoist family.
And the figures keep rising. With the introduction of ALIMAK SCANDO 650 (2004) and the high-speed ALIMAK SCANDO 650 FC-S, which both continue to be built on the rack and pinion principle, Alimak Hek has set yet a new standard for vertical access. The latter will have its very first appearance at Bauma 2007.