Dad's "1 Man Piano Moving" device invention

My Dad likes to fix problems that nobody knew existed until he fixed them. I didn’t know that using 2 men to load pianos onto our van or move pianos around the warehouse was a problem until Dad invented a gadget that allowed 1 man to move even the heaviest pianos on his own.

Dad decided my time would be better used up in the office replying to customer emails and leave him to load pianos onto our van on his own. Here is a video showing what he came up with.

Battery powered 1 man piano lifting device

That’s quite dramatic don’t you think? He’s used it many times on heavy pianos such as the very heavy Yamaha U3 piano shown in that video. Since then he has decided that the battery power wasn’t really necessary and that a nice light weight hand-winch would suffice. So he got on with making that and here is a video showing him lifting the corner of a very very very heavy Yamaha C5 grand piano. The corner that he is lifting is the heaviest part. It normally takes 2 (ideally 3) strong men and it involves lots of huffing and puffing and potential back problems in later life. Does Dad look tired in this video?

Hand winch powered 1 man piano lifting device

How clever is that? These days I rarely get involved in loading a piano onto the van for a delivery. I just wait until I hear Dad start the van engine which means he has finished loading up and it’s time to set off. Brilliant!

Dad applied to the patents office but was informed that someone else had already invented such a device back in the late 1800s, they even sent him diagrams of several other similar patent applications dating from the 1800s up to present day. Ah well, better luck with your next invention Dad.

The final version of Dad’s device is to insert a hinge halfway up the vertical beam so that it can be folded in half and put in the boot of any car or stored more easily in the back of any van. The big heavy battery operated device had wheels on the bottom so that it could be easily pushed around the warehouse. The hand-winch version is light enough to carry so does not need wheels.

If you have any questions or feedback about the “1 man piano moving device” then please email me at markgoodwinpianos@gmail.com I know that Dad is happy to take orders if you want Dad to make one for you. Drop me a line if interested.

Thanks :)
Mark