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