Allmand celebrates 75th anniversary

Dec. 28, 2012 — Founded in 1938 in a small garage in the tiny town of Huntley, Neb., Allmand Bros. , now under the third generation of Allmand family leadership, celebrates 75 years in the manufacturing business. Over the last three-quarters of a century, it has grown to become an industry leader in portable lighting, heating and traffic safety equipment. 

In the midst of the Great Depression, and unable to afford a new arc welder for
their repair shop, brothers Leslie and Walter Allmand built their own.  It worked so well that their neighbors asked
the brothers to build welders for them, and the business was born.

The Allmand team in 1938, with one of the welders that built the business.

Fast-forward to 1954, when Allmand developed the Contractor’s Lantern, the
industry’s first portable light tower.
 
From this humble origin today’s light tower industry began, and Allmand
still continues its tradition of innovation.

Allmand was the first to use 1000-watt metal halide lighting in a light tower
application, the first to use parallel lamp fixtures and the first to develop
and use the high-efficiency SHO compact parallel lamp fixture.
  Adding to this list of firsts, Allmand was
also the first to offer the LSC-100 light sequence control that allows
unattended sequential start-up and shut-down of the light tower systems.   

Allmand's first factory in the city hall in Holdrege, Neb., 1944. Note the ladies working – most of the men were fighting overseas.

Today, Allmand is the only manufacturer to offer the SHO-HD 1250 watt
engineered metal halide lighting system with an unparalleled 150,000 lumens per
fixture, providing a brighter, more true-to-life light than any other
technology on the market.
  The SHO-HD
system is standard on all domestic Night-Lite PRO II and Maxi-Lite models.  Allmand is also the only manufacturer to
develop and introduce the V-Series light tower in North America.  The innovative six-section V-Series tower
remains in the vertical position as it extends and retracts, and does not lay
down across the top of the trailer nor extend past the rear of the trailer,
making it safer and easier to move, and taking up less space in storage.  The operator can raise or lower the tower in
only 20 seconds with the flip of a switch, while remaining safely away from the
moving parts of the mast. 

The original garage in Huntley. They've come a long way, baby.

Allmand innovation is not just limited to lighting technology.
  The Allmand Maxi-Heat self-contained portable
heater has been making worksites warmer since 1992 by providing over a million
BTU/h of clean, breathable, heated air. 
Twin 16” outlets allow the use of up to 110 feet each of flexible
ducting, while its increased fuel capacity now allows over 30 continuous hours
of unattended operation.  A unique
combustible gas detection, safety shutdown and visible warning system is also
available that allows the Maxi-Heat to meet the critical demands of the oil and
gas industry.

Rounding out the current Allmand line-up is its Eclipse solar-assisted arrowboard
trailer.
  High efficiency LED lamps
consume less power to allow the Eclipse to operate for as much as a year
without needing to be recharged while still meeting all Federal traffic control
visibility standards.
 

From its modest inception 75 years ago, to the
leadership position it has assumed in the intervening years, Allmand innovation
is making work sites brighter, warmer, and safer, and will continue to drive
product development for the next 75 years, and beyond.  

Related Link

www.allmand.com