The lift truck has become such an invaluable piece of equipment found and utilized in most industrial operations and warehousing, ever 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 top supplier in the material handling industry. Various other well-known names in the making of these machinery include: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Cat, Hyster, Nissan and Yale.
Hyster has grown to become amongst the most popular units of forklifts within the industry. As a matter of fact, in several places, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Other common names for this industrial lifting machinery comprise: lift truck, jitney, high/low, fork truck and stacker truck.
The ancestor of today's machinery was initially developed in the early part of the 19th century. At this time, battery-powered, small units were made for the purpose of transporting traveler's baggage at the Altoona train station within Pennsylvania. During WWI, various types were developed in England particularly to be utilized in the material handling business. These equipment evolved as a solution to the manpower shortage at that time.
Today's machinery come in numerous sizes and configurations. Sod loaders are big truck-mounted forklift units and several of the larger equipment, whereas the smaller machines consist of hand truck units. There are also a line of automated versions known as forklift automated guided vehicles which are practically robotic in nature. These models were developed as a way of lowering operational costs and to improve productivity.
A common lift truck is able to use a wide range of attachments that are capable of being added for a variety of particular functions. The motors could be IC or internal combustion units, running on diesel, gasoline or propane, or there are battery operated options which require regular charging. Standard warehouse units will normally be rated to raise between about 1 and 5 tons.
Since their evolution, lift trucks have become a priceless part of the material handling industry. Many of these units are used each and every day throughout the globe to complete tasks that used to need much more man-power. Operators must take stringent training courses in order to run these heavy machines safely and legally. Many employees have longer careers now and better health overall due to their not having to lift things manually anymore because the forklifts could handle those situations now instead.