in 1966 in Hyvinkää, Finland. The following year Kone was listed on the Helsinki Exchanges and started its international expansion through the acquisition of Sweden's Asea-Graham and its Norwegian and Danish affiliates. Numerous acquisitions followed during the 1970s and 1980s with only the most significant being listed here. The acquisitions of companies larger and older than Kone itself brought Kone's respectability and lifted the company to a position of market prominence. Eventually, Kone further expanded its business scope. The company became one of the world's largest hoist and crane manufacturers as well as a producer of high-tech electronic hospital and laboratory equipment. In 1981, Kone entered the American elevator market with the acquisition of New York City-based based Armor Elevator Company, which it continued to operate independently as a wholly owned subsidiary. The company acquired Navire Cargo Gear in 1982 and International MacGregor, makers of shipboard cargo access equipment. Wood-handling systems and equipment for pulp and paper mills, hydraulic piping systems, mining equipment, conveyors, and specialized steel components were manufactured at Kone's steel foundry. In 1987, after 60 years as a member of Kone's board of directors and 46 as its chairman, Heikki H. Herlin retired. Prevented by Finnish law from serving simultaneously as president and board chairman, Pekka Herlin ceded the presidency to Matti Matinpalo, the first non-Herlin to occupy the position in 55 years, and continued as chairman of the board. In 1990, Kone sold its shipboard cargo handling business in 1993, as well as its crane (Konecranes), wood handling, and piping systems businesses in 1994, and finally the steel foundry and electronic medical instruments divisions in 1995. Only its elevators, escalators, and automatic door branches remained. Kone acquired the Montgomery Elevator Company of the U.S. in 1994. Soon afterward, the Kone Corporation purchased a majority of the outstanding shares of O&K Rolltreppen GmbH of Germany, a supplier of escalators and autowalks. In 1998 the company made a $29 million (US) investment in the construction of an elevator and escalator factory in Kunshan, China. In 1996, Antti Herlin, the great-grandson of the company's founder, was appointed Kone CEO and deputy chairman of the board of the company that he had now inherited. The company introduced new technology such as the Kone EcoDisc hoisting machine and the Kone MonoSpace elevator technology concept in 1996. Kone was one of the first to introduce machine-room-less (MRL) construction in elevators. Kone's MRL