The Development of the HIAB Hi-Tilt

In an earlier post we said we would put a spotlight on some of the ways the “HIAB method” transformed construction methods used in the 1960s. The development of the HIAB Hi-Tilt is one example.

As the editors of HIAB Method magazine noted in 1966, larger building components posed a challenge on construction sites. In the US, large and heavy plasterboards, used commonly in house building, were proving difficult to move around the job site.

HIAB’s American subsidiary, HIAB Hydraulics Inc., asked its engineers to come up with a solution. After much study and planning, they came up with the Hi-Tilt, an apparatus that was ideal for lifting large boards, whether plaster, plywood or wallboard.

Talk about efficiency! The article notes that it used to take four people to unload a truck full of wallboard and then place the load in the desired spot. With the Hi-Tilt, one operator could do the job in half the time.

Sales of the Hi-Tilt took off immediately, and the apparatus also proved useful in unloading train cars.

The Hi-Tilt is yet another example of HIAB’s ingenuity and attention to customer needs. Check out the HIAB XS 435K video to see a modern day hydraulically tilting fork in action handling drywall.