The lift truck has become such an important piece of machinery found and utilized in most warehousing and industrial operations, ever since its introduction to the market more than 90 years ago in the 1920's. One of the forklift's pioneers, Clark has grown to become an industry top supplier in the material handling industry. Different other popular names in the making of these equipment comprise: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Cat, Hyster, Nissan and Yale.
Hyster has grown to become one of the most popular units of forklifts in the industry. As a matter of fact, in several regions, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Other common names for this industrial lifting machinery include: stacker truck, fork truck, high/low, lift truck and jitney.
The ancestor of today's machinery was initially made in the early part of the 19th century. At this time, battery-powered, small models were invented for the purpose of moving traveler's luggage at the Altoona train station in Pennsylvania. In WWI, several different versions were developed in England specifically for use in the material handling industry. These machines evolved as a solution to the lack of manpower at that time.
The modern equivalents come in a variety of configurations and sizes. There are the large truck-mounted lift truck units which are also called sod loaders and then the opposite end of the spectrum has small hand truck models. There are also a line of automated versions referred to as forklift automated guided vehicles which are basically robotic in nature. These models were developed to improve production and as a means of lowering operational expenses.
A regular lift truck is able to utilize a wide range of attachments that are capable of being added for a variety of specific functions. The motors can be IC or internal combustion units, running on gasoline, propane or diesel, or there are battery operated options that require regular charging. Standard warehouse units would normally be rated to lift between roughly 1 and 5 tons.
The forklift has become a priceless component in the material handling business. Many of these units are utilized each and every day all around the globe to perform jobs that used to need a lot more man-power. Operators should take stringent training programs in order to run these heavy machinery safely and legally. A lot of workers have longer careers now and better health overall due to their not having to raise objects by hand anymore as the forklifts are capable of handling those situations now instead.