The forklift has become such an important piece of machine found and utilized in most industrial operations and warehousing, ever since its introduction to the market more than 90 years ago in the 1920's. Amongst the forklift's pioneers, Clark has grown to become an industry top supplier in the material handling business. Different other popular names in the making of these machinery consist of: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Cat, Nissan, Yale and Hyster.
Hyster has grown to become one of the most popular units of lift trucks in the business. As a matter of fact, in several regions, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Other common names for this industrial lifting equipment consist of: stacker truck, fork truck, jitney, high/low and lift truck.
It was during the 19th century that the machinery ancestors of the lift truck was first made. At this time, small, battery-powered models were made for the purpose of transporting traveler's baggage within Pennsylvania at the Altoona train station. During WWI, various kinds were developed within England particularly to be utilized in the material handling industry. These machines evolved as a solution to the manpower shortage at that time.
Today's machines come in many configurations and sizes. Sod loaders are big truck-mounted forklift models and some of the bigger machines, while the smaller equipment consist of hand truck units. 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 productivity and as a way of lowering operational costs.
Attachments have been made to fit onto numerous regular lift trucks, giving them the capability of performing a wider selection of tasks. The motors can be internal combustion or IC units, working on gasoline, propane or diesel, or there are battery operated options that require regular charging. Typical warehouse models will usually be rated to lift between about 1 and 5 tons.
The lift truck has become a priceless component in the material handling industry. Many of these models are used every day throughout the globe to complete jobs that used to need a lot more man-power. Operators need to take stringent training programs in order to run these heavy machines safely and legally. A lot of employees have longer careers now and better health overall due to their not having to lift items manually anymore as the forklifts could handle those situations now instead.