Royal City's Callahan Mfg. celebrates 55 years
Nancy and Dean Callahan stop for a photo in front of a rig that has just been upgraded with a Callahan Manufacturing Hoist system. The couple was married in 1965 and have operated the Royal City business for 55 years now.
R. HANS MILLER/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Flat steel bars with a curve at the end are created toward the beginning of the process to make a Callahan brand hoist. I-beam style supports make for stronger products than tube supports, Dean Callahan said.
Once the pieces for one of the side supports for a hoist are assembled, they’re pressed together by this machine and then welded on a nearby fixture to hold their shape.
Dean Callahan shows how one of the special fixtures in the Callahan Manufacturing facility rotates the hoists so that the various pieces can be welded safely and with better quality.
The fifth wheel on a tractor trailer must be modified to accommodate a Callahan Hoist. The Callahans’ machines are rated for an 80,000-pound load and help haul everything from potatoes to scrap metal.
A Callahan hoist outside the factory door ready for installation onto a cargo rig. The system is operated using hydraulics.
A Callahan hoist on display at the company’s 55th anniversary celebration Tuesday. Lifting the trailers like a long dump truck can help reduce the manual labor involved in loading and unloading cargo.
ROYAL CITY – Walking into Callahan Manufacturing in Royal City, the first things a patron sees are loads of parts for tractors and other machinery. The second, at least Tuesday afternoon, is a pup named Ember with bright white-blue eyes and a wagging tail.
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