Forklifts
In material handling, construction, manufacturing and warehousing applications, forklifts are commonly used to transport and lift palletized loads. With manual-drive forklifts, the travel or load movement is either powered manually or walk-behind. Motorized drive forklifts have a motorized drive. In many models, the forklift has a protected cab or seat for the driver. Fork trucks include features like backup alarms, and cabs and are additionally motorized. Various kinds of forklifts are counterbalanced so as to prevent the vehicle from tipping over. Other kinds of forklifts come outfitted with safety rails, or a rotating element such as a hand rail or a turntable.
Other specifications that are vital to consider when choosing a forklift are the lift capacity and stroke. Lift capacity is defined as the supportable, maximum force or load. Stroke is defined as the difference between fully lowered and fully raised lift positions.
The type of tire and the type of fuel are also other important specifications that should be considered. The fuel choices available are: natural gas, LP or liquid propane, electricity, CNG or compressed natural gas, propane, diesel or gasoline.
For fork trucks and forklifts, there are two basic types of tires which could be used. They are: solid and pneumatic. The solid or cushion tires require less maintenance compared to 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 machinery are normally used in construction, agriculture and in logging environments. Last of all, Class VIII forklifts have all personnel and burden carriers. Dual Fuel lift trucks often fit in this class.