Lift trucks are utilized to lift, engage and transfer palletized loads within warehousing, manufacturing, material handling, mining and construction applications. There are 3 basic kinds of lift trucks: a motorized drive, fork truck and manual drive. The travel or load movement is powered manually or by walking at the rear of the machinery with manual-drive lift trucks.
The motorized forklift models come equipped with a motorized drive and in many cases have a seat or protected cab in their design in order to keep the operator comfortable and safe. Fork trucks are another kind which are motorized and consist of features like for example cabs and backup alarms. In order to prevent the equipment from tipping over, some forklifts are counterbalanced. Other kinds of forklifts comprise safety rails, a rotating element such as a turntable or other kinds of hand rails.
When selecting forklifts, essential specifications to take into consideration comprise lift capacity and stroke. Stroke is defined as the difference between the fully-raised and the fully-lowered lift positions. Lift capacity is the maximum, supportable load or forcforce or load. Additional specifications for lift trucks include their tire and fuel type.
Forklifts consist of various fuel options such as: liquid propane or LPG, compressed natural gas or CNG, propane, diesel fuel, natural gas and gasoline. There are 2 basic types of tires for operating forklifts and fork trucks: pneumatic and solid. Cushion or solid tires do not puncture and need less maintenance compared to pneumatic tires. The solid or cushion tires do offer less shock absorption overall. Pneumatic or air-inflated tires however provide excellent drive traction and load-cushioning.
There are 7 classes of lift trucks. The first class of lift trucks, Class I, is either stand-up or seated 3 wheeled units that are electric-motor rider trucks. Normally, rider units could have either cushion or pneumatic wheels and are counterbalanced. Class II forklifts are electric motor units which are utilized for order picking or stock applications in narrow aisle setting. These kinds of forklifts offer extra reach functions or swing mast.
Forklift Class III lift trucks include walk-behind or standing-rider operated electric-motor trucks. High lift models and automated pallet lift trucks are normally counterbalanced units. Class IV forklifts have seated controls and cabs. These models are rider fork trucks with IC or internal combustion engines. Furthermore, this class uses cushion or solid tires.
Rider fork Trucks are included in Class V. These machines would have cabs and seated controls, pneumatic tires and internal combustion or IC engines. Like Class IV forklifts, they are usually counterbalanced. Class VI forklifts are tow tractor lifts which are designed for a sit-down rider. This particular class is supplied with electric or IC or internal combustion engines.
Class VII lift trucks are the last classification and consist of rough terrain lift trucks, which are usually utilized in construction, logging and agricultural applications. Class VII lift trucks include all employee carriers and burden carriers.