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 industry. Different other popular names in the making of these machinery consist of: Yale, Hyster, Nissan Toyota, Mitsubishi and Cat.
Hyster has grown to become among the most popular units of lift trucks within the industry. As a matter of fact, in several regions, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Other common names for this industrial lifting equipment comprise: fork truck, stacker truck, lift truck, jitney and high/low.
It was during the 19th century that the machinery ancestors of the forklift was initially developed. At this time, small, battery-powered units were invented for the purpose of moving traveler's luggage at the Altoona train station within Pennsylvania. In WWI, various types were developed in England particularly to be used in the material handling business. 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 models. There are also a line of automated versions known as forklift automated guided vehicles that are basically robotic in nature. These units were made to improve production and as a way of lowering operational expenses.
A regular lift truck is able to use a huge range of attachments which are capable of being added for a range of specific functions. The motors could be IC or internal combustion models, running on diesel, gasoline or propane, or there are battery operated options which need regular charging. Typical warehouse units will usually be rated to raise between about 1 and 5 tons.
The lift truck has become a priceless component in the material handling industry. Thousands of these units are utilized on a daily basis all around the globe to perform jobs which used to require much more man-power. Operators should take stringent training courses in order to safely and legally operate these heavy machinery. Numerous workers have better health overall and longer careers now due to their not having to lift objects by hand anymore because the forklifts could handle those situations now instead.