Chinese specialist aerial lift manufacturer Goman is to launch two new tracked self-levelling scissor lifts at the American Rental Show in mid-February. See our Events section for details
The models are the 20ft S05C and the 28ft S08C. The smaller model provides a maximum working height of 8.2 metres, with a platform capacity of 230kg, while the larger unit has a 10.5 metre working height with 113kg.
S05C
The S05C has an overall length of just under two metres, and an overall width of 1.24 metres which can be extended hydraulically to 1.44 metres, via the track support arms, which also varies the overall height from 2.26 metres in the wide format or 2.57 metres when narrow, the guardrails fold to a 1.93 metres transport height. The platform is 1.64 metres long – extending to 2.35 metres with the deck extension, while the platform width is 1.18 metres. Total weight is 2,025kg.
The S05C
The lift can level by up to 20 degrees longitudinally and up to 13 degrees side to side. Power comes from a lithium ion battery pack with additional diesel of petrol/gas engine for bi-energy. Gradeability with either power source is 30 percent.
The levelling charts – the S05C above and S08C below
S08C
The S08C has an overall length of just 2.52 metres, and an overall width of 1.51 metres which can be extended hydraulically to 1.69 metres, via the track support arms, which also vary the overall height from 2.33 metres in the wide format or 2.67 metres when narrow, the guardrails fold to a 1.82 metres transport height when wide and 2.16 metres when narrow. The platform is 2.3 metres long – extending to 3.2 metres with the deck extension, while the platform width is 1.11 metres. The overall weight is 2,510kg.
The S08C showing its longitudinal levelling
The lift can level by up to 15 degrees longitudinally and up to 12 degrees side to side. Power comes from a lithium ion battery pack with additional diesel of petrol/gas engine for bi-energy. Gradeability with either power source is 30 percent.
Goman was established in 2003, building spider lifts, and has tended to focus on the North American market since 2017. Today it builds regular spider lifts to 52 metres, insulated spider lifts to 23 metres, trailer lifts and a self-levelling tracked boom lifts.
Vertikal Comment
This auto levelling scissor lift from Goman is an interesting new product launch. It’s not the first of its type that appears to copy the AlmaCrawler machine.
It is possible that this and a similar unit launched by Hered last year trigger a patent suit or two. Almac holds a wide ranging patent for the overall levelling concept for a self-levelling scissor lift and could choose to take legal action to defend its patent.
All-encompassing patents, however, can be difficult to defend. They invariably, as in this case, include some areas of prior art, such as the design for a parallelogram adjustment mechanism for the tracks, a concept that significantly predates Almac’s patent. However, the overall levelling mechanism for a tracked scissor lift is original to Almac.
We know that Teupen has already challenged the patent on the basis that it used a parallelogram mechanism that retracts the tracks while also lifting the machine well before the Almac patent application.
Overtly copying a competitor’s intellectual rights and refusing to cease and desist or agree a royalty is deplorable. However, it’s as widely practiced by Western manufacturers as those from China. In a reversal of fortunes, some Chinese manufacturers are now finding that some of their original designs and patents are now being copied. In fact, Goman was a victim of this when last year a smaller compatriot blatantly copied one of its more unusual spider lifts.
The legal ball is now in Almac’s court. We’ll let you know what happens.
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