Forklifts
In material handling, construction, warehousing and manufacturing applications, forklifts are commonly used to transport and lift palletized loads. With manual-drive forklifts, the travel or load movement is either walk-behind or powered manually. Motorized drive forklifts have a motorized drive. In many models, the forklift has a protected seat or cab for the operator. Fork trucks have features like for instance backup alarms, and cabs and are also motorized. Several kinds of forklifts are counterbalanced in order to prevent the vehicle from turning over. Other models are offered with safety rails, or a rotating element such as a hand rail or a turntable.
The stroke and lift capacity are other specification which you should take into consideration when choosing a kind of forklift. Lift capacity is defined as the maximum, supportable load or force. Stroke is defined as the difference between completely lowered and completely raised lift positions.
The type of tire and the type of fuel are also other important specifications which must be considered. The available fuel choices are: natural gas, LP or liquid propane, compressed natural gas or CNG, electricity, propane, diesel or gasoline.
For forklifts and fork trucks, there are two basic kinds of tires that can be utilized. They are: solid and pneumatic. The solid or cushion tires require less maintenance than pneumatic tires and do not easily puncture. Pneumatic or air-inflated tires offer load cushioning and great drive traction. At the end of the day, cushion or solid tires offer less shock absorption.
Class VII forklifts are normally designed to be utilized on rough terrain. These types of machines are normally used in agriculture, construction and in logging environments. Lastly, Class VIII forklifts include all burden and personnel carriers. Dual Fuel lift trucks frequently fit in this class.