A Brief History

In November 1990, the chief mechanic at Highland Hills Municipal Golf Course in Greeley, Colorado approached Concept Engineering Corporation, a consulting engineering firm owned by John Beattie. He asked Mr. Beattie to design and build a service lift for use in their maintenance shop. Specifically, he wanted a lift that would:

1) easily adapt to 3 or 4 wheeled mowers that might be long or short, wide or narrow

2) allow complete access to the common service areas of mowers as well as well as the difficult to use areas,

3) insure complete safety for himself and his equipment while it was lifted.

A contract was negotiated and, over the next several months, a lift was carefully designed, built, and finally installed at Highland Hills in March 1991. By the mechanic’s own testimony, his new turf equipment lift exceeded all expectations. Very soon after its completion, Concept Engineering received numerous inquiries from other mechanics and superintendents in the surrounding area who had learned of the lifts and its amazing versatility. Many were eager to obtain a unit for their own maintenance facilities.

Early market research indicated a substantial market potential for such a product in the turf maintenance industry. It also showed that available products (namely, automotive lifts) were not considered capable of meeting the market need. As a result, in August 1991, Trion Lifts, Inc. was established. The “prototype” unit purchased by Highland Hills Municipal Golf Course became the first Trion Model 1800 Service Lift. Trion’s workstation is now called the Pro-M.

Numerous patent applications were filed resulting in seven U.S. and foreign patents as well as a trademark assignment. These and subsequent patents filed apply to the original Model 1800 and all of its successors. In addition, Trion has also expanded its business to include a growing line of workstation accessories, some designed and patented by Trion’s engineers. They add to Trion’s versatility and enhance its use as a complete turf maintenance workstation. The Universal Mower Adapter for walk mowers was introduced in 1993 and the DL 1300 Mobile Lift Table in 1996. In February 2003, the Reel Conditioner was introduced at the GCSAA show in Atlanta. It is a totally new concept in reel sharpening utilizing state of the art machining technology and computerized technology requiring no disassembly, but sharpens and aligns reels while still attached to the mower.
The Reel Conditioner was solely designed by John Beattie, President of Trion Lifts and patents are pending..

Trion's Production Facility

Trion Lifts, Inc. is located at 3819 Saint Vrain Street, Evans, Colorado. Evans is a community of 6,000 residents located immediately south of Greeley, Colorado. Greeley, with approximately 75,000 residents, is midway between Denver, Colorado and Cheyenne, Wyoming on Highway 85.

The manufacturing plant and main offices are housed in two buildings on Highway 85. A one-story brick office complex sits in front of the large steel manufacturing plant on over five acres at the south end of town.

John M. Beattie received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University with an emphasis in machine design. He has been employed as a Design Engineer and Design Supervisor for special products used in industry and the military.