Ever since its introduction during the early 1920s, the forklift has become an important piece of machinery found in numerous industrial operations and warehousing. Clark, one of the pioneers of the first forklift, has grown to become a leader in the material handling industry and still remains a leading supplier. Other well-known names in the making of these machinery comprise: Hyster, Nissan, Yale Cat, Toyota and Mitsubishi.
The Hyster brand of lift truck 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 equipment comprise: stacker truck, fork truck, jitney, high/low and lift truck.
The ancestor of today's machinery was first developed during the early 19th century. At this time, small, battery-powered models were made for the purpose of moving traveler's luggage at the Altoona train station within Pennsylvania. In WWI, some different types were made in England particularly to be utilized in the material handling business. These machines evolved as a solution to the lack of manpower at that time.
The modern equivalents come in a range of configurations and sizes. There are the big 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 that are practically robotic in nature. These units were developed as a way of lowering operational costs and to improve production.
A regular lift truck is able to utilize a wide array of attachments which are capable of being added for a range of particular functions. The motors can be IC or internal combustion units, running on diesel, gasoline or propane, or there are battery operated options that require regular charging. Standard warehouse units would usually 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 models are utilized on a daily basis throughout the globe to perform jobs that used to require a lot more man-power. Operators should take stringent training programs so as to run these heavy equipment legally and safely. Many workers have longer careers now and better overall health due to their not having to raise objects manually anymore since the forklifts are capable of handling those situations now instead.