Photos by Pettibone
Pettibone Traverse/Lift LLC is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Cary-Lift, which became the world’s first forward-reaching, rough-terrain material handler when invented by Phil LaTendresse in 1949. Shortly after its origin, the Cary-Lift product line was acquired by Pettibone, and it remains a solution for pipe, pole and log handling to this day.
The inventor’s grandson, also named Phil LaTendresse, is currently Pettibone’s director of engineering and product support.
“A local sawmill owner was looking for a better solution for unloading logs, and that’s when my grandfather came up with the concept of being able to reach forward with a forklift, which inspired the first prototype Cary-Lift,” said LaTendresse. “He built about 13 machines before selling the business to Pettibone Mulliken Corporation.”
The Pettibone Cary-Lift provides design advantages compared to other tools often used to move pipe, poles or similar materials. The unique Cary-Lift overhead lift arm design gives the operator full front visibility, and its solid steel body frame allows the machine to take full loads into sharp turns without sacrificing stability.
“I see the future of the Cary-Lift as evolving, just like it always has,” said LaTendresse. “The first machines were in forestry. We evolved into pipe and pole handling. And we’re looking ahead toward diesel-electric hybrids and new applications, trying to find that next new niche.”
For more information, visit www.gopettibone.com.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.