LINK-BELT Construction Equipment Upcoming Auctions

About Link-Belt

Operating as a subsidiary of Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Link-Belt Construction Equipment designs, manufactures, and sells various models of cranes, including rough terrain, truck terrain, all terrain, telescopic, lattice crawler, lattice truck, and telescopic crawler models. LBX Company, a standalone company that’s also a subsidiary of Sumitomo Heavy Industries, manufacturers Link-Belt-branded excavators and forestry and material handling equipment. Both subsidiaries are based in Lexington, Kentucky.

Link-Belt’s formation began in 1874 when Iowan farmer William Dana Ewart brainstormed a new design for chain belts for harvesters he believed would enable making repairs easier. In 1874, Ewart received a patent for a new design, and in 1880 and 1888, the Link-Belt Machinery Company and Link-Belt Engineering Company were formed, respectively. In 1939, Link-Belt Company bought Speeder Machinery Corporation, which resulted in the Link-Belt Speeder Corporation, a subsidiary of Link-Belt Company.

In 1967, after FMC Corporation and Link-Belt Company merged, Link-Belt Speeder was spun off to form the Construction Equipment Group. In 1986, FMC and Sumitomo cemented a decades-long partnership by forming Link-Belt Construction Equipment. In 1998, the company’s excavator products were spun off to create LBX Company, a joint-effort between Sumitomo Construction Machinery and Case.