The lift truck has become such an important piece of machine found and utilized in most industrial operations and warehousing, since its introduction to the market more than 90 years ago during the 1920's. Among the forklift's pioneers, Clark has grown to become an industry leading supplier in the material handling industry. Other popular names in the making of these equipment include: Hyster, Nissan, Yale Mitsubishi, Cat and Toyota.
Hyster has grown to become amongst the most popular models of lift trucks within the industry. As a matter of fact, in some places, the word "Hyster" is synonymous with forklift. Other common names for this industrial lifting machines include: stacker truck, fork truck, jitney, high/low and lift truck.
It was during the 19th century that the equipment ancestors of the lift truck was first made. At this time, battery-powered, small units were made for the purpose of moving traveler's luggage at the Altoona train station within Pennsylvania. During WWI, various kinds were developed in England specially for use 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 large truck-mounted forklift units that 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 referred to 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 expenses.
Attachments have been made to fit onto numerous common forklifts, 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 that need regular charging. Standard warehouse models would usually be rated to lift between about 1 and 5 tons.
Ever since their evolution, forklifts have become a priceless part of the material handling business. Many of these units are used each day all over the world to complete jobs that used to require much more man-power. Operators should take stringent training courses so as to safely and legally operate these heavy machinery. Many employees have better health overall and longer careers now due to their not having to lift items by hand anymore since the forklifts can handle those situations now instead.