The lift truck has become such an important piece of machine found and utilized in most industrial operations and warehousing, since its introduction to the market more than 90 years ago during the 1920's. Amongst the forklift's pioneers, Clark has grown to become an industry top supplier in the material handling business. Different other well-known names in the manufacturing of these equipment consist of: Nissan, Yale, Hyster Toyota, Mitsubishi and Cat.
The Hyster type of forklift has become amongst the industries most popular manufacturers. In fact, in several places, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Other common names for this industrial lifting machinery consist of: stacker truck, fork truck, lift truck, jitney and high/low.
It was in the 19th century that the machinery ancestors of the lift truck was initially developed. At this time, battery-powered, small units were invented for the purpose of moving traveler's luggage in Pennsylvania at the Altoona train station. During WWI, various types were made in England specifically for use in the material handling industry. These machinery evolved as a solution to the manpower shortage at that time.
The modern equivalents come in a variety of sizes and configurations. There are the big truck-mounted lift truck units that are also called sod loaders and then the opposite end of the spectrum has small hand truck units. There are also a line of automated versions referred to as forklift automated guided vehicles which are basically robotic in nature. These units were made as a way of lowering operational expenses and to improve production.
A common forklift is able to use a wide array of attachments which are capable of being added for a variety of particular functions. The motors can be IC or internal combustion models, running on gasoline, propane or diesel, or there are battery operated options which require regular charging. Standard warehouse models would normally be rated to lift between about 1 and 5 tons.
The forklift has become a priceless part within the material handling business. Thousands of these units are utilized on a daily basis all around the globe to complete jobs that used to need a lot more man-power. Operators should take stringent training programs so as to safely and legally run these heavy machines. Lots of workers have better health overall and longer careers now due to their not having to lift objects by hand anymore since the forklifts are capable of handling those situations now instead.