The lift truck has become such an invaluable piece of machinery found and used in most industrial operations and warehousing, ever since its introduction to the market more than 90 years ago during the 1920's. One of the forklift's pioneers, Clark has grown to become an industry leading supplier in the material handling business. Other well-known names in the making of these equipment include: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Cat, Yale, Hyster and Nissan.
The Hyster brand of forklift has become one of the industries most popular manufacturers. The fact is, in some places, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Other common names for this industrial lifting machinery include: fork truck, stacker truck, jitney, high/low and lift 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 moving traveler's luggage at the Altoona train station within Pennsylvania. During WWI, various kinds were developed within England specifically to be used in the material handling business. These equipment evolved as a solution to the lack of manpower at that time.
The modern equivalents come in a range of configurations and sizes. There are the big truck-mounted lift truck units which are also referred to as sod loaders and then the opposite end of the spectrum has small hand truck units. There are also a line of automated versions known as forklift automated guided vehicles that are practically robotic in nature. These units were made to improve productivity and as a means of lowering operational expenses.
Attachments have been made to fit onto many common lift trucks, giving them the capability of performing a wider selection of jobs. The motors can be internal combustion or IC units, running on gasoline, propane or diesel, or there are battery operated options which require regular charging. Typical warehouse units will normally be rated to raise between around 1 and 5 tons.
Since their evolution, lift trucks have become a priceless part of the material handling industry. Thousands of these models are utilized on a daily basis throughout the globe to perform tasks which used to need much more man-power. Operators have to take stringent training programs in order to run these heavy machines legally and safely. Lots of workers have better overall health and longer careers now due to their not having to raise items manually anymore because the forklifts could handle those situations now instead.