Yale Safety Hand truck loading a railway car. This for truck with its narrow width was ideally suited for operation in confined areas.

This truck reaches out to select loads without the use of pallets. Can carry one or more tiers up to a load capacity of 1600 pounds at 20" load center.

Yale truck equipped with Rheem Gripper arms.

The Yale Safety Silhouette truck, shown loading a highway trailer, is rated at 2000 pounds capacity at 24 inch load center.

1844
Linus Yale, Jr. of Salisbury, New York, son of one of the most respected families in New England, sketched out in 1844 the first diagram of an invention that was to make his name famous beyond all imagination. Yale's idea, refined over and over in subsequent years, led to patents issued between 1860 and 1864 for a new type of lock-and-key system. It drew on basic principles first employed by the ancient Egyptians some 4,000 years before.

1868
In 1868, Linus Yale was introduced to Henry R. Towne, a promising young engineer/businessman from Philadelphia. Together the two formed a partnership and built a factory in Stamford, Connecticut known as the Yale Lock Manufacturing Company.

1875
Linus Yale died in the company's first year of existence, but the firm continued to prosper under Towne's management. In 1875, it broadened its scope from lock manufacturing to materials handling with the acquisition of patents on the Weston differential pulley block and the introduction of the first Yale hand-powered chain hoist.

1883
Within a few years the company (renamed Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co.) was not only the country's foremost lock producer, but also its leading hoist manufacturer, adding a wide variety of geared and electric powered hoists to its original hand powered model.

1920
In 1920, Yale & Towne expanded its materials handling involvement once again with the purchase of the C.W. Hunt Co. of Staten Island, New York, which only the year before had introduced a new battery powered low-lift platform truck.

1923
In 1923, Yale invents the first fork lift truck. The early models of the first trucks include: Model K 20 (Narrow High Platform Truck), Model K 21 (Wide High Platform Truck), Model K 22 (General Utility - Elevating Platform Truck), Model K 23 (Low Platform Truck), and the Model K 24 (Three Wheel Tractor Truck).

1929
After several years of building Hunt-designed trucks under the Yale name, the company introduced a completely new family of battery powered industrial trucks. These included both low and high lift platform models, a low slung, non-tippable tow tractor, and one of the first fork lift trucks to have a clamp attachment.

1931
In 1931, Yale & Towne moved its headquarters to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where at its Tacony Street plant, all production of electric trucks, hand trucks and hoists was brought together under one roof. In Philadelphia, Yale had introduced the tilting fork concept and with the acquisition of the Steubing Cowan Co., Yale had expanded into hand truck manufacturing as well.

1933
In 1933, Yale & Towne committed itself to another major expansion with the acquisition of two competitors, the Walker Vehicle Co. and the Automatic Transportation Co., both of Chicago. Automatic, in particular, was highly regarded as a pioneer manufacturer of electric-powered materials handling trucks.

1934
In 1934, Yale & Towne opened manufacturing facilities in Wednesfield, England. That very same year Yale lift trucks were sold for the first time in Japan by the Kiichi Harada Company. Meanwhile, World War II intervened, and gave the materials handling industry tremendous impetus. The innovation of putting forks on the front of a lift truck began to change the industry's entire concept of moving goods and materials.

1948
In 1948, Yale & Towne moved to an entirely new plant on Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia, its home for the next 35 years. Designed to achieve the utmost economy, efficiency and speed of production by utilizing the latest materials handling and production line principles, the new plant encompassed some 17 acres under a single roof and was the largest in the world devoted to the manufacture of lift trucks and hoisting equipment.

1950
In 1950, Yale & Towne added gas, LP gas and diesel powered lift trucks to its product line and with them introduced the first fluid coupling transmissions and hypoid drive axles to the lift truck field.

1963
In 1963, the company merged with the multinational Eaton Manufacturing Co. As the Industrial Truck Division of Eaton, Yale & Towne, Inc. (later renamed simply Eaton Corp.), the company continued to grow and prosper.

1971
By 1971, it became apparent that Yale could successfully market its Japanese-made trucks in both Europe and North America, leading to the establishment of a joint venture manufacturing company named Sumitomo-Yale Co., Ltd. owned equally by the two companies.

1974
In 1974, the Greenville, North Carolina plant opens production of electric trucks.

1978
In 1978, Yale opens a manufacturing plant in Lenoir, North Carolina that is dedicated to mast and cylinder production.

1984
In 1984, the Yale Materials Handling Corporation was formed as a completely restructured company. Its international headquarters was moved to Flemington, NJ. The Yale trademark is registered in every country in the world of any importance. The trade name "Yale" has been continuously carried on a wide line of products, some of the earlier ones being Post Office Cabinets, Lock Boxes, Stamping Tables and Inking Pads for the Postal Service, Anodes, Drill Presses, Transom Lifts, Door Checks, Carburetors, and Locks for every use.

1998
In 1998, the Yale Marketing organization was moved from Flemington, New Jersey to Greenville, North Carolina.

hist 2005