During the day, special recognition was made to 63 employees who began their employment with Link-Belt in Lexington with the plant opening in January 1975. A further 24 employees were recognised for over 30 years of employment with Link-Belt. Other activities throughout the day included individual award giveaways and drawings for anniversary days culminating with Sumitomo Heavy Industries (Link-Belt’s parent company) and Link-Belt management hosting a luncheon for all employees.
Farm implement dealer William Dana Ewart founded Link-Belt in Belle Plaine, Iowa. He developed a square detachable “link” for chain drive belts on harvesters, obtaining a patent in September 1874. One hundred years later, the FMC Corporation built a dedicated manufacturing facility for Link-Belt hydraulic cranes. In 1986, Sumitomo Heavy Industries acquired Link-Belt from FMC and consolidated all of its plants and offices in Lexington. Since then the headquarters for Link-Belt Cranes has grown to more than 500,000 sq ft of manufacturing space, and over 500 employees.
