The lift truck has become such an invaluable piece of equipment found and used in most warehousing and industrial operations, since its introduction to the market more than 90 years ago in the 1920's. Amongst the forklift's pioneers, Clark has grown to become an industry leading supplier in the material handling business. Other popular names in the making of these equipment include: Hyster, Nissan, Yale Mitsubishi, Cat and Toyota.
Hyster has grown to become among the most popular models of lift trucks in the business. As a matter of fact, in several places, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Different other names for this industrial lifting machines include: stacker truck, fork truck, jitney, high/low and lift truck.
It was during the 19th century that the machinery ancestors of the lift truck was first made. At this time, battery-powered, small units were made for the purpose of moving traveler's baggage in Pennsylvania at the Altoona train station. In WWI, various types were developed within England particularly for use in the material handling industry. These machines evolved as a solution to the manpower shortage at that time.
The modern equivalents come in a range of sizes and configurations. There are the big truck-mounted lift truck units which are also referred to 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 which are basically robotic in nature. These units were developed as a means of lowering operational costs and to improve productivity.
A common forklift is able to utilize a huge array of attachments which are capable of being added for a variety of specific functions. The motors could be internal combustion or IC models, working on diesel, gasoline or propane, or there are battery operated options that need regular charging. Typical warehouse units would usually be rated to lift between around 1 and 5 tons.
The lift truck has become a priceless component in the material handling industry. Thousands of these units are used on a daily basis all over the globe to complete tasks which used to require a lot more man-power. Operators should take stringent training programs in order to run these heavy machines legally and safely. Many workers have longer careers now and better overall health due to their not having to raise things manually anymore because the forklifts could handle those situations now instead.