Ever since their introduction in the material handling business during the 1920s, forklifts have gone through a huge change. Today, these high tech machines are a lot smarter and stronger. They have revolutionized the material handling arena and have become exceptional workhorses in our warehouse and distribution centres all around the world.
Initially, during their introduction about 100 years ago, lift trucks were very simple pieces of motorized equipment made to transport pallet loads from one place to another. Today, extremely advanced models flood the marketplace. These models are offered in different weight capacities, different designs and many lifting heights. Additionally, these machines are available with different ergonomic designs to improve driver comfort and many new safety features. Keeping the operator as comfy as possible can really add to the overall efficiency accomplished during a shift.
A key feature placed on nearly all of the available lift trucks on the market are tires and forks. Tires enable the machinery to move around and the forks could lift and carry loads. The basic design and application of different kinds of lift trucks utilized in manufacturing centers, distribution facilities and warehousing operations is covered in this specific article.
Counterbalanced Lift Trucks
Counterbalanced Lift Trucks consist of: Electric forklift models as well as Internal Combustion or IC models.
Narrow-Aisle Lift Trucks
Narrow Aisle Forklifts comprise: Order-Pickers, Turret Trucks and Reach Trucks.
Low Lift Pallet Trucks or Pallet Jacks
In this class, Electric-Powered Pallet Trucks are included, as are Non-Powered Pallet Trucks.
Counterbalanced Forklift Trucks
The lift truck is the most common kind of lift truck. This unit is the sit-down, counterbalanced kind. A weight located in the rear of this machine is responsible for counterbalancing the load's weight. The counterbalance is what prevents the forklift the truck from tipping over.
Counterbalanced forklifts will typically have lifting heights of approximately 16 feet, or 189 inches. In addition, these models can lift a range between 4,000 to 6,500 pounds. Counterbalanced forklifts are offered with backup alarms and different other kinds of safety features like for instance lights.
The lift truck market is presently divided into about 60% electric models, with 40 percent Internal Combustion units. Each kind of forklift has a particular place and is ideal to accomplish a lot of various tasks. Depending on whether or not you will be using the equipment outdoors or indoors and what kind of terrain and surfaces you would be operating on, as well as what specific types of loads you will be using determines the type of lift truck which you will select.