William Dana Ewart

In 1874, William (Will) Dana Ewart sold farm implements in Belle Plaine, Iowa.

Farmers could carry extra links into the field and then quickly repair a broken drive chain.

Ewart quickly found customers requesting help engineering and constructing industrial facilities, especially coal-handling systems.

By 1894, the three companies had constructed facilities for railroads including the New York Central and Hudson, the Philadelphia and Reading, and the Chicago and West Michigan.

Workers laid rail tracks where the shovel was expected to work, then repositioned as required.

As shown in the photo at the right, the crane had a large house-like structure mounted on its rail chassis.

Through the turn of the century, Link-Belt expanded its line of steam-powered, heavy-duty coal-handling cranes.

William (Will) Ewart
Link-Belt Ad - St. Paul Globe 1891 Note the open hook at the end of each square link, allowing replacement of broken links.
Coaling station constructed by Link-Belt Engineering. New Buffalo, Michigan circa 1891.
An early rail-chassis Link-Belt crane with clamshell loading bucket for coal handling. Note the large middle structure housing a locomotive-type steam engine.
Link-Belt Chicago Factory Circa 1910