Since its introduction in the early 1920s, the forklift has become an important piece of machine found in numerous industrial operations and warehousing. Clark, among the pioneers of the very first lift truck, has grown to become a leader in the material handling industry and still remains a leading supplier. Various other popular names in the making of these machinery consist of: Cat, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Yale and Hyster.
Hyster has grown to become amongst the most popular models of forklifts within the business. The fact is, in some places, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Various other names for this industrial lifting equipment consist of: stacker truck, fork truck, high/low, lift truck and jitney.
It was in the 19th century that the machine ancestors of the lift truck was initially developed. At this time, small, battery-powered units were invented for the purpose of transporting traveler's baggage at the Altoona train station within Pennsylvania. In the First World War, various types were developed within England particularly to be utilized in the material handling business. These machinery evolved as a solution to the manpower shortage at that time.
The modern equivalents come in a range of sizes and configurations. There are the large truck-mounted lift truck models which are also called 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 units were developed to improve production and as a way of lowering operational costs.
A regular forklift is able to utilize a wide range of attachments that are capable of being added for a range of particular functions. The motors can be internal combustion or IC models, running on diesel, gasoline or propane, or there are battery operated options which need regular charging. Standard warehouse models would usually be rated to lift between roughly 1 and 5 tons.
The forklift has become a priceless component in the material handling business. Thousands of these models are utilized on a daily basis all around the world to complete tasks which used to need a lot more man-power. Operators have to take stringent training courses in order to safely and legally run these heavy machinery. Lots of employees have longer careers now and better health overall due to their not having to lift things manually anymore as the forklifts are capable of handling those situations now instead.