Ever since its introduction in the early 1920s, the lift truck has become an important piece of machine found in many industrial operations and warehousing. Clark, amongst the pioneers of the very first forklift, has grown to become a leader in the material handling business and still remains a leading supplier. Other well-known names in the making of these equipment consist of: Yale, Hyster, Nissan Cat, Toyota and Mitsubishi.
The Hyster brand of lift truck has become among 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 consist of: stacker truck, fork truck, lift truck, jitney and high/low.
It was during the 19th century that the machinery ancestors of the forklift was initially made. At this time, small, battery-powered units were made for the purpose of moving traveler's baggage within Pennsylvania at the Altoona train station. During WWI, some different 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 configurations and sizes. There are the big truck-mounted forklift units that are also called sod loaders and then the opposite end of the spectrum has small hand truck units. There are also a line of automated versions known as forklift automated guided vehicles that are basically robotic in nature. These units were developed to improve productivity and as a way of lowering operational expenses.
A common lift truck is able to utilize a huge array of attachments which are capable of being added for a variety of particular functions. The motors could be IC or internal combustion models, working on gasoline, propane or diesel, or there are battery operated options that need regular charging. Standard warehouse models would normally be rated to lift between about 1 and 5 tons.
The lift truck has become a priceless part in the material handling business. Many of these units are used each and every day all over the world to perform jobs which used to need much more man-power. Operators must take stringent training programs so as to operate these heavy machinery legally and safely. Many employees have better health overall and longer careers now due to their not having to lift items manually anymore because the forklifts could handle those situations now instead.