The forklift has been around since the early part of the 1920's. Ever since its inception, the forklift has become an indispensable machine for the materials handling business.
The forklift is also called a lift truck and was first utilized to lift and transport luggage at train stations and airports. During the Second World War the use of these machines exploded and the warehousing industry expanded significantly. The traditional machine was adapted to deal with the requirements of stacking inventory on higher shelves and they were made to lift heavier cargo and move faster.
Usually, lift truck trucks are utilized for stacking inventory within warehouses. In most cases, objects are packed onto pallets that make it ideal for the blades to move in between the open spaces of the pallets. The forklift can then securely carry the cargo without it wobbling or falling onto the ground. Once the pallets are in place, they could be transported easily to a different location. Lift trucks are also used a lot in the docking, shipping, mining and agricultural business.
Lift trucks are normally seen on construction sites. The manufacturers of these machinery design them to lift huge heavy boxes and heavy pipes, concrete slabs, ceramics and other equipment. As it is quite a compact unit, this specific equipment can move from one location to a different location at a moderately good speed.
The dimensions of the forklift differ depending on the model and its particular application. For warehousing applications, there are the narrow aisle truck models. These are quite a bit smaller in size and require the floor to be extremely flat. Normally, they are designed with rear wheel steering. There has been a dramatic increase in these machinery within the manufacturing and mining machine industries. Since forklifts normally deal with petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals and flammable supplies, the equipment have become more robust and tougher.
The forklifts may have load capacities from 1 to as many as 5 tons. Several heavy duty units have been made to deal with as many as 50 tons. These models are often used to load shipping equipment off of and into ships. Forklifts and their required training to operate are specially regulated to ensure the safety of the people utilizing this particular equipment. No body could utilize them legally without finishing the correct training and documents.