Christian Gibson, forklift inventor, dies at 89

Christian Gibson, forklift inventor, dies at 89    Christian D. Gibson, inventor of the first narrow-aisle forklift truck, died on Jan. 22 at the age of 89.
   “Chris’s contributions changed the way businesses think about warehousing,” said James J. Malvaso, president and chief executive officer of The Raymond Corp., a provider of manual and electric materials-handling trucks and walkie stackers.
   George G. Raymond, Sr., hired Gibson in 1943 as the first professional engineer for a company that became The Raymond, based in Greene, N.Y.
   In 1951, Gibson and Raymond were granted a patent for a forklift truck called the Model 700 Spacemaker. By 1953, The Raymond had manufactured 1,000 of the new trucks. In his 36 years with the company, Gibson received more than 200 patents.
   Gibson retired in 1983 but remained a consultant for The Raymond until 2002.