Since their launch in the material handling business in the 1920s, lift trucks have undergone a huge evolution. Nowadays, these high tech machines are a lot stronger and smarter. These kinds of equipment have revolutionized the material handling world and have become irreplaceable workhorses within our distribution and warehouse facilities all over the world.
Initially, during their introduction around 100 years ago, forklifts were really simple pieces of motorized machinery designed to transport pallet loads from one place to another. Nowadays, really advanced units flood the marketplace. These units are offered in a wide variety of weight capacities, numerous lifting heights and various designs. Furthermore, these kinds of equipments come with different ergonomic designs to enhance operator comfort and numerous new safety features. Keeping the operator as comfy as possible could really increase the overall production accomplished during a shift.
Amongst the only remaining universal features that are on the wide variety of forklifts available nowadays are the tires that move the machinery and the forks which are utilized to raise loads. The basic application and design of different kinds of forklifts used in distribution centers, warehousing applications and manufacturing facilities is included in this particular article.
Counterbalanced Lift Trucks
Counterbalanced Forklifts include: Internal Combustion or IC models, as well as Electric Trucks.
Narrow-Aisle Lift Trucks
Narrow Aisle Forklifts consist of: Reach Trucks, Order Pickers and Turret Trucks.
Low Lift Pallet Trucks or Pallet Jacks
In this class, Electric-Powered Pallet Trucks are included, as are Non-Powered Pallet Trucks.
Counterbalanced Forklift Trucks
The forklift is the most common kind of lift truck. This unit is the sit-down, counterbalanced version. A weight located in the back of this machinery is responsible for counterbalancing the load's weight. The counterbalance is what prevents the forklift the truck from tipping over.
Counterbalanced forklifts would normally have lifting heights of around 16 feet, or 189 inches. Also, these units are capable of lifting a range between 4,000 to 6,500 pounds. Counterbalanced forklifts come outfitted with backup alarms and various other kinds of safety features like lights.
The lift truck market is currently divided into about 60 percent electric units, with 40% IC units. Each kind of lift truck has a particular place and is best to accomplish many various tasks. Depending on whether or not you would be using the machine outside or inside and what type of surfaces and terrain you will be operating on, as well as what particular kinds of cargo you will be using determines the kind of lift truck that you will select.