The lift truck has become such an important piece of machine 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. Among the forklift's pioneers, Clark has grown to become an industry leading supplier in the material handling business. Other well-known names in the making of these machines comprise: Nissan, Yale, Hyster Toyota, Mitsubishi and Cat.
The Hyster brand of lift truck has become amongst the industries most popular manufacturers. As a matter of fact, in some regions, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Other common names for this industrial lifting machines comprise: jitney, high/low, lift truck, fork truck and stacker truck.
The ancestor of today's machines was first developed in the early 19th century. At this time, small, battery-powered models were invented for the purpose of transporting traveler's luggage in Pennsylvania at the Altoona train station. In WWI, various kinds were developed within England particularly for use in the material handling industry. These machinery evolved as a solution to the lack of manpower 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 known as 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 to improve productivity and as a way of lowering operational costs.
A regular lift truck is able to use a wide range of attachments which are capable of being added for a range of particular functions. The motors can be IC or internal combustion models, running on gasoline, propane or diesel, or there are battery operated options that need regular charging. Standard warehouse units will normally be rated to lift between approximately 1 and 5 tons.
The lift truck has become a priceless component within the material handling industry. Thousands of these units are utilized on a daily basis all around the globe to complete tasks that used to need much more man-power. Operators should take stringent training programs in order to safely and legally operate these heavy equipment. Many workers have better health overall and longer careers now due to their not having to lift things by hand anymore since the forklifts are capable of handling those situations now instead.