The forklift has become such an important piece of machinery found and used in most warehousing and industrial operations, ever since its introduction to the market more than 90 years ago in the 1920's. Among the forklift's pioneers, Clark has grown to become an industry leading supplier in the material handling business. Different other popular names in the making of these equipment include: Yale, Hyster, Nissan Mitsubishi, Cat and Toyota.
The Hyster type of forklift has become amongst the industries most popular manufacturers. As a matter of fact, in several regions, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Other common names for this industrial lifting machines consist of: high/low, lift truck, jitney, stacker truck and fork truck.
It was during the 19th century that the equipment ancestors of the forklift was first made. At this time, battery-powered, small units were invented for the purpose of transporting traveler's luggage in Pennsylvania at the Altoona train station. In WWI, various versions were made within England particularly to be utilized 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 large truck-mounted lift truck models that 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 referred to as forklift automated guided vehicles that are basically robotic in nature. These units were developed to improve production and as a means of lowering operational costs.
A regular forklift is able to utilize a wide array of attachments which are capable of being added for a variety of specific functions. The motors could be internal combustion or IC models, running on gasoline, propane or diesel, or there are battery operated options that need regular charging. Standard warehouse models will usually be rated to raise between around 1 and 5 tons.
The lift truck has become a priceless part in the material handling industry. Thousands of these units are used each and every day throughout the globe to perform tasks which used to require much more man-power. Operators need to take stringent training courses so as to safely and legally operate these heavy machinery. Numerous workers have longer careers now and better health overall due to their not having to lift objects by hand anymore because the forklifts are capable of handling those situations now instead.