The forklift has become such an important piece of machine found and utilized in most warehousing and industrial operations, since its introduction to the market more than 90 years ago during the 1920's. Among the forklift's pioneers, Clark has grown to become an industry leading supplier in the material handling business. Various other popular names in the manufacturing of these equipment consist of: Yale, Hyster, Nissan Toyota, Mitsubishi and Cat.
The Hyster type of forklift has become amongst the industries most popular manufacturers. In fact, in several places, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Other common names for this industrial lifting machines consist of: jitney, high/low, lift truck, fork truck and stacker truck.
It was during the 19th century that the machine ancestors of the lift truck was first developed. At this time, small, battery-powered models were made for the purpose of transporting traveler's baggage in Pennsylvania at the Altoona train station. During WWI, some different versions were developed within England specifically to be used in the material handling business. These machines evolved as a solution to the manpower shortage at that time.
The modern equivalents come in a variety of sizes and configurations. There are the big truck-mounted lift truck models which are also known as sod loaders and then the opposite end of the spectrum has small hand truck models. There are also a line of automated versions referred to as forklift automated guided vehicles that are basically robotic in nature. These models were developed as a way of lowering operational expenses and to improve production.
A common lift truck is able to use a wide array of attachments that are capable of being added for a variety of specific functions. The motors could be IC or internal combustion models, working on gasoline, propane or diesel, or there are battery operated options which need regular charging. Typical warehouse models would normally be rated to lift between about 1 and 5 tons.
Since their evolution, lift trucks have become a priceless component of the material handling business. Thousands of these units are utilized on a daily basis throughout the globe to complete jobs that used to require much more man-power. Operators should take stringent training courses so as to operate these heavy machines safely and legally. Many workers have longer careers now and better overall health due to their not having to lift objects manually anymore as the forklifts could handle those situations now instead.