The telescopic handler or just telehandler is a heavy duty machinery that is well-known within both the construction and agriculture industries. These equipment are rather similar in both appearance and function to the forklift, except it more closely resembles a crane. The telehandler provides improved versatility of a single telescopic boom which could extend upwards and forwards from the vehicle. The operator has the ability to attach various kinds of attachments on the end of the boom. Some of the most popular attachments consist of: a muck grab, a bucket, pallet forks or a lift table.
A telehandler typically utilizes pallet forks as their most popular attachment to be able to move loads through places which are usually not reachable for a typical forklift. Like for example, telehandlers could move cargo to and from locations which are not usually accessible by conventional forklift models. These devices can also remove palletized loads from within a trailer and position these loads in high areas, like on rooftops for example. Before, this abovementioned situation will need a crane. Cranes can be pricey to utilize and not always a practical or time-efficient choice.
One more advantage is also the telehandlers largest limitation: since the boom extends or raises when the equipment is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become quite unbalanced, despite the counterweights on the rear. This translates to the lifting capacity decreasing quickly as the working radius increases. The working radius is the distance between the center of the load and the front of the wheels.
Once it is fully extended with a low boom angle for example, the telehandler would just have a 400 pound weight capacity, while a retracted boom could support weights up to 5000 lb. The same unit with a 5000 lb. lift capacity that has the boom retracted might be able to easily support as heavy as 10,000 pounds with the boom raised up to 70.
The Matbro Company within Horley, Surrey, England initially pioneered telehandlers. These equipment were developed from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. Initially, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front portion. This positioned the cab of the driver on the rear portion of the machinery, as in the Teleram 40 model. The rigid chassis design with a rear mounted boom and the cab situated on the side has ever since become more popular.