A telehandler or a telescopic handler is a machinery which is well-known within the agriculture and construction industries. These machinery are similar in appearance and function to a lift truck or a forklift but are really more similar to a crane instead of a forklift. The telehandler provides increased versatility of a single telescopic boom that could extend upwards as well as forwards from the vehicle. The operator can attach various types of attachments on the boom's end. Some of the most common attachments consist of: a muck grab, a bucket, a lift table or pallet forks.
In order to transport cargo through locations which are usually not reachable for a typical forklift. The telehandler utilizes pallet forks as their most common attachment. For example, telehandlers are able to move loads to and from places which are not normally reachable by regular forklift units. These devices can also remove palletized cargo from within a trailer and place these loads in high areas, such as on rooftops for example. Previously, this situation mentioned above would require a crane. Cranes can be pricey to utilize and not always a time-efficient or practical choice.
Another advantage is also the telehandlers largest limitation: because the boom raises or extends when the equipment is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become quite unbalanced, despite the rear counterweights. This translates to the lifting capacity decreasing fast as the working radius increases. The working radius is the distance between the center of the load and the front of the wheels.
Like for instance, a vehicle which has a 5000 lb. capacity with the boom retracted might be able to safely lift just as heavy as 400 pounds once it is fully extended with a low boom angle. The same unit with a 5000 pound lift capacity which has the boom retracted might be able to easily support as heavy as 10,000 pounds with the boom raised up to 70.
England first pioneered the telehandler within Horley, Surrey. The Matbro Company developed these machines from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. At first, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front section. This positioned the cab of the driver on the equipment's rear part, like in the Teleram 40 unit. The rigid chassis design with a rear mounted boom and the cab situated on the side has since become more famous.