The lift truck has become such an invaluable piece of machinery found and used in most industrial operations and warehousing, since its introduction to the market more than 90 years ago in the 1920's. One of the forklift's pioneers, Clark has grown to become an industry leading supplier in the material handling industry. Various other popular names in the manufacturing of these equipment comprise: Yale, Hyster, Nissan Mitsubishi, Cat and Toyota.
The Hyster type of lift truck has become one of the industries most popular manufacturers. As a matter of fact, in some regions, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Different other names for this industrial lifting machines consist of: stacker truck, fork truck, high/low, lift truck and jitney.
It was in the 19th century that the machinery ancestors of the forklift was first developed. At this time, battery-powered, small models were made for the purpose of transporting traveler's baggage at the Altoona train station within Pennsylvania. During the First World War, several different kinds were made in England specially for use in the material handling industry. These equipment evolved as a solution to the manpower shortage at that time.
The modern equivalents come in a range of configurations and sizes. There are the big truck-mounted lift truck models which 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 which are basically robotic in nature. These models were made to improve production and as a way of lowering operational costs.
A common lift truck is able to utilize a huge array of attachments that are capable of being added for a variety of particular functions. The motors can be internal combustion or IC models, working on diesel, gasoline or propane, or there are battery operated options which need regular charging. Standard warehouse units would normally be rated to lift between about 1 and 5 tons.
The lift truck has become a priceless component within the material handling business. Many of these models are utilized on a daily basis all around the world to perform jobs that used to need much more man-power. Operators must take stringent training programs so as to operate these heavy machinery safely and legally. Many employees have longer careers now and better overall health due to their not having to lift items by hand anymore because the forklifts are capable of handling those situations now instead.