The lift truck has been around ever since the early part of the 1920's. Since its inception, the forklift has become an indispensable machinery for the materials handling business.
Sometimes referred to as forklifts, one of their initial uses was carrying and moving luggage at airports and train stations. During the Second World War utilizing these machinery exploded and the warehousing business expanded significantly. The traditional machinery was adapted to handle the need to stack inventory on higher shelves and they were made to carry heavier cargo and move faster.
The lift truck is usually utilized for stacking inventory inside warehouses. Objects for the most part are packed onto pallets which are designed specifically to enable the forks to move underneath the openings of the pallets. The lift truck can then securely carry the load without it wobbling or falling onto the ground. When the pallets are in place, they can be easily transported to another location. Lift trucks are also utilized a lot in the docking, shipping, mining and agricultural business.
The forklift is also seen on constructions sites, since many units have been made to lift huge heavy boxes and heavy pipes, concrete slabs, ceramics and other equipment. Since it is fairly a compact unit, this machinery could move from one location to a different place at a fairly good speed.
The dimensions of the lift truck vary depending on the unit and its specific application. For warehousing applications, there are the narrow aisle truck models. These are quite a bit smaller in size and need the floor to be really flat. Usually, they are designed with rear wheel steering. There has been a significant increase in these machinery in the manufacturing and mining equipment industries. Because forklifts often handle flammable materials, petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, the machinery have become stronger and more robust.
Forklifts have a load capacity ranging from 1 to 5 tons. There are heavy-duty models which could handle up to 50 tons. These models are often utilized to load shipping equipment onto and off of ships. Lift trucks and their required training to operate are particularly regulated to ensure the safety of the individuals using this specific machine. No one is able to legally operate them without finishing the correct training and documents.