The forklift has become such an invaluable piece of equipment found and utilized in most warehousing and industrial operations, 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 leading supplier in the material handling business. Different other well-known names in the manufacturing of these machinery include: Mitsubishi, Cat, Toyota, Yale, Hyster and Nissan.
Hyster has grown to become among the most popular models of forklifts within the industry. In fact, in some regions, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Various other names for this industrial lifting equipment comprise: fork truck, stacker truck, jitney, high/low and lift truck.
It was during the 19th century that the equipment ancestors of the lift truck was first developed. At this time, battery-powered, small models were invented for the purpose of moving traveler's baggage at the Altoona train station within Pennsylvania. In the First World War, various versions were developed within England particularly for use in the material handling industry. These equipment evolved as a solution to the lack of manpower at that time.
Today's machines come in numerous configurations and sizes. Sod loaders are big truck-mounted lift truck models and several of the bigger equipment, whereas the smaller equipment consist of hand truck models. There are also a line of automated versions known as forklift automated guided vehicles which are practically robotic in nature. These units were developed to improve production and as a way of lowering operational costs.
A regular lift truck is able to utilize a huge range of attachments which are capable of being added for a range of particular functions. The motors can be internal combustion or IC units, working on gasoline, propane or diesel, or there are battery operated options which require regular charging. Typical warehouse models will normally be rated to raise between around 1 and 5 tons.
Since their evolution, forklifts have become a priceless component of the material handling industry. Many of these units are utilized on a daily basis all around the world to perform tasks that used to need much more man-power. Operators must take stringent training courses in order to legally and safely run these heavy machinery. Numerous employees have longer careers now and better health overall due to their not having to raise items by hand anymore since the forklifts are capable of handling those situations now instead.