international
construction
april 2014
EQUIPMENT
54
ConExpo review
instance, we are talking tomany
customers and our dealers across
the country and our expectations
are a lotmore positive – driven by
the housing recovery and oil and
gas pipelines.
“This is goodnews for us in
NorthAmerica. LatinAmerica also
pretty positive, and the other good
news for the industry is Europe,
wherewe saw a rebound at the end
of last year, driven by theUK.”
MrGasparri added that the
companywould be focussing on
growth theAsia Pacific region in
particular this year, in thewake
of the unwinding of its excavator
joint venturewithKobelco.
Equipment launches
The generally positive outlook from
the industrywas complimented by
the hundreds of newmachines that
were presented for the first time
during the exhibition,many of
whichwere previewed in the pages
of
iC
in the run-up to the event.
However, somemanufacturers
waiteduntil the exhibition itself
to unveil their latest designs.
On top of themany new
earthmovingmachines launched
(see earthmoving feature, page 32),
some companies also showcased
prototype and conceptmachines.
Volvo, for instance, took
thewraps off a new concept
constructionmachine – theGaiaX,
all-electric compact excavator.
The idea behind themodel was
to showcasewhere the future of
construction equipment could be
by 2030.
Meanwhile, the re-use of energy
was at the centre of a prototype
excavator ondisplay fromHyundai
– theR220LC-9HI-POSS,
which it is still testing after first
showcasing at last year’s Bauma
show.More details of thismachine
Patent concern
Terex has raised questions over a new JLG boom lift
T
erex Aerial Work Platforms has sent JLG Industries a notice of possible
patent infringement for the design of JLG’s chassis on the new 185
ft (56.4m) boom lift it launched at ConExpo-Con/AGG,
iC’s
sister
publication,
Access, Lift &Handlers (ALH
), learned.
“I can’t go into a lot of detail about it, but you can probably look at [JLG’s
1850SJ chassis] and see there are a lot of similarities [compared to the Genie
SX-180],” Brad Allen, vice president of marketing, product management and
engineering for Genie, told ALH during the exhibition.
“Our patent was originally applied to the ZX-135 back in 2006. We’ve
maintained the design aspect of that with our 180.”
Both boom lifts use an X-shaped chassis to achieve stabilitywhilemaking
transportation easier. Terex AWP is concernedwith the similarity of the
designs.
“The X-chassis provides a significant advantage…. over extending axles,”
Mr Allen said.
Terex AWP’s 180 ft (5m) SX-180
debuted at Bauma 2013 inMunich.
In February, Terex AWP sent a “very
respectful letter,” Allen said, to
JLG “saying that it looks like their
[1850SJ chassis] covers the same
technology [as our SX-180’s].”
Alan Loux, vice president of
marketing for JLG, said the
company received a letter from
Genie “expressing concern that they
believe is a potential infringement
on a patent,”Mr Loux told
iC
. “We
take thesematters very seriously
andwe are evaluating, but we are
confident we have not infringed on
any patents.”
JLG filed its own patent in
September 2013 for its X-styled
chassis. “We have patents pending
sowe are confident we haven’t
infringed on any patents,”Mr Loux
said.
CNH Construction Equipment
president Mario Gasparri forecast
that this year would herald a
recovery for themanufacturer
after a difficult 2013.
Volvo CE took thewraps off a new concept constructionmachine – the
GaiaX, all-electric compact excavator.
Liebherr showcased its truckmounted concrete pumps in North America
for the first time, with onemachine shown on the stand of its US
distributor Reed Concrete Pumps.
