If anyone is interested in a little boom history....this may interest you. Please correct me if I'm wrong about the finer details as I'm going from memory here. Kind of more for the younger guys because most of the older guys probably remember this.
In the 1980's and into the early 90's, Asplundh manufactured it's own equipment. They had regular auto dealerships in Pennsylvania where they sold cars and trucks but that also allowed them wholesale buying power for commercial truck chassis. They designed a boom that was simple and highly functional for line clearance. They also designed the Whisper Chipper (which is a misnomer because it was probably the loudest chipper ever invented) and had manufacturing facilities to pump out the simplest, most productive equipment (for their interests) at the cheapest wholesale cost. Keep in mind, they needed so much equipment that even a 10% savings was very substantial. They invented the LR series boom...eventually to be followed by the LR2, LR3, etc.
At the same time, they also had three re-manufacturing facilities that took in old units and refurbished them. Back then, if you didn't have an LR, you were probably flying a Hi-ranger or Aerial Lift. Those Hi-rangers were the ones with the pulley at the knuckle. Some guys might have been using other brands but those were the ones I saw the most. The advantage of the LR was the over-center upper boom. Plus, those trucks all came with Wisconsin (now Kubota) auxiliary engines. The reason for this was originally because Pennsylvania state law does not allow aerial units to be run from PTO's alone. They wanted less polluting methods of operation. The advantage to the auxiliary engine was that it was/is more fuel efficient and it's nice to have an alternate source to run your hydraulics in the event of a break-down.
This is where my memory may get a little hazy. At some point, a deal was struck between Asplundh and Altec for the rights to the LR line. Altec was to get the LR. Everything was ok until Altec learned that Asplundh was still remanufacturing LRs in those 3 plants and then selling them to the same market Altec expected to target with their new patent. In response, Altec filed a lawsuit which I believe was settled. In the settlement, Asplundh agreed to either close the plants or just use them "in house" but also agreed to give up the Whisper Chipper.
So today, there is an Altec line that be traced all the way back to the original Asplundh LR and there is such a thing as the Altec Whisper Chipper.
No idea why I just typed all of that out but it might be interesting to some guys. If I'm mistaken about any of the details, please feel free to correct the facts. That is my best recollection of how all of that happened.
