At least from the outside, the hoist seems to resemble the popular Morris Material Handling Ltd S3 chain hoist made in the UK. It was first seen at the CeMAT show in Hanover last month on the stands of Hu-Lift and Chinese distributor L&H Hoists.
Darren Billington, managing director of TTC Lifting, said that despite appearances the hoist is not a copy: the hoist motor, fan and hook are different.
Billington told Hoist that he did not have a problem selling this new hoist in the UK: “That’s business. Generally, lifting equipment started off in the UK, and spread by people in Europe copying these designs. In the worldwide market, everybody is looking at everybody else’s items,” he said.
Billington said that the initial reaction to the hoist at CeMAT was not negative. “I did speak to Yale on their stand concerning these hoists,” Billington said. (Yale UK distributes the Morris S3 in the UK). “They seemed to have no worries about it. They expressed that they had known that they were in production over the last 12-24 months. They said if they were to close one factory down, another would open up.” Morris Material Handling Ltd of the UK did not exhibit at the show.
“At the end of the day it is a Chinese product, so I am not expecting it to last as long as the Morris product,” he said. “However, it may do.”
The initial launch consists of four sizes, all double-speed, with a single and double-fall rating: 125/250kg, 160/320kg, 250/500kg, and 1000/2000kg. In February a 500kg/1000kg model is scheduled to arrive.
