Asea-Graham was a large Swedish elevator manufacturer, and a division of ASEA AB, which was bought by Kone in the late 1960s.
History
Asea-Graham was established in 1962 as the result of a merger between ASEA's original elevator division and Graham Brothers. In 1968, Kone put a shareholder of the company and took over the business in 1972, renaming it to KONE ASEA Graham and in 1974, to KONE Hissar AB in Sweden.
Notable installations
Most elevators in Sweden from the 1960s were manufactured by Asea-Graham. They also exported elevators to other countries. The most famous example of this was in Fernsehturm in Berlin, Germany.
Sweden
- Kungsgatan 31, Stockholm
- Kaknäs Tower, Stockholm
- Söderhamn Hospital, Söderhamn (Middle One replaced by KONE MonoSpace MRL in 2023)
- Norra Hamngatan 7, Söderhamn
- Norra Fiskagatan 12E, Gävle (as KONE Asea-Graham)
- Heden 112A, 128, Bollnäs
- Namsoplan 5, Hudiksvall
- Norrlands Universitetssjukhus "NUS" (Northland General Hospital), Umeå (paternosters)
- Skärgårdshotellet, Nynäshamn (1972)
Ökstigen 6, Södertalje(Modernized with KONE MaxiSpace in 2006)
Other countries
- Al. Róż 7, Warsaw, Poland (1964; a pilot installation of ASEA-Graham-licensed basic traction elevator design for ZREMB)
Stockholms Tunnelbana had a lot of escalators, elevators and inclined elevators delivered by ASEA-Graham in between 1964 and 1967. None of the elevators exist anymore, but a lot of escalators remains albeit modernized a lot by companies over the time.
Notable escalator installations
- Zinkensdamm Metro Station, Sodermalm, Stockholm: Escalators, used to be an inclinator in the past.
- Midsommarkransen Metro Station, Stockholm: Escalators with original steps. The elevator was replaced by Kone in 1999. [1]
- Örnsberg Metro Station, Stockholm: Short escalator, it actually has the logotype being left intact on the floor.
- Östermalmstorg Metro Station, Stockholm: Escalators, including one which involved in an accident (see Trivia below) as well as elevators in the past.
Kringlan, Sodertalje(Replaced with O&K KONE escalators in the 1980s or 1990s)
Incidents
On 15 February 2015, an elderly woman became a victim of a serious escalator incident at Östermlamstorg Metro Station in Stockholm. The escalator was built by Asea-Graham in 1965 but had obsolete and light-weight aluminium steps custom made by a company called JURK Service AB. One of these steps had its axis broken apart and the step fell through, causing the woman to get stuck inside. She received serious injuries. This accident hit the news hard, consequently causing all the ASEA-Graham escalators with the JURK steps to get turned off for a substantial period of time for emergency maintenance and prompted an increase in security and protection to avoid more injuries if more steps breaks down.[2]
Trivia
- ASEA-Graham also made paternosters, one installation is located in Umeå, Sweden. Another one in Landbrukets hus in Oslo, Norway, which is Norway's only working paternoster[3].
- ASEA-Graham licensed its basic traction elevator design and technology to the Eastern Bloc governments of Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. Manufactured locally, they became the most common standard elevators installed in the prefabricate housing block estates.