Lift trucks are used to lift, engage and transfer palletized loads within warehousing, manufacturing, material handling, construction and mining applications. There are 3 main types of forklifts: a fork truck, manual drive and motorized drive. The travel or load movement is powered manually or by walking at the rear of the equipment with manual-drive forklifts.
Motorized-drive model lift trucks are complete with a motorized drive. In a lot of instances, a protected cab or seat is part of the design in order to keep the operator comfortable and safe. Fork trucks are another kind that are motorized and comprise features like for instance cabs and backup alarms. In order to prevent the machine from turning over, some lift trucks are counterbalanced. Other models comprise safety rails, a rotating element like a turntable or other types of hand rails.
Essential specifications to take into consideration when selecting lift trucks comprise lift capacity and stroke. Stroke is defined as the difference between the fully-raised and the fully-lowered lift positions. Lift capacity is the supportable, maximum load or forcforce or load. Additional specifications for lift trucks include their tire and type of fuel.
Different fuel options for forklifts include: LP or liquid propane, compressed natural gas or CNG, diesel fuel, propane, natural gas and gasoline. There are 2 major kinds of tires for operating fork trucks and forklifts: solid and pneumatic. Solid or cushion tires require less maintenance compared to pneumatic tires and do not puncture. The cushion or solid tires do offer less shock absorption overall. Air-inflated or pneumatic tires however offer excellent load-cushioning and drive traction.
For forklifts, there are 7 classes. Class 1 forklifts include electric-motor rider trucks, seated or stand-up 3 wheeled units. Usually, rider units can have either pneumatic or cushion wheels and are counterbalanced. Class II lift trucks are electric motor units that are utilized for stock applications or order picking in narrow aisle environments. These models offer extra swing mast or reach functions.
Class III forklifts are either standing-rider or walk-behind operated electric-motor trucks. High lift models and automated pallet lift trucks are often counterbalanced units. Class IV lift trucks have cabs and seated controls. These kinds of forklifts are rider fork trucks with IC or internal combustion engines. In addition, this class has solid or cushion tires.
Rider fork Trucks are included in Class V. These equipment will have seated controls and cabs, pneumatic tires and IC or internal combustion engines. Similar to Class IV forklifts, they are typically counterbalanced. Class VI forklifts are tow tractor lifts that are designed for a sit-down rider. This class is supplied with electric or internal combustion or IC engines.
Class VII forklifts are the last classification and consist of rough terrain lift trucks, which are usually utilized in agricultural, construction and logging applications. Class VII lift trucks consist of all personnel carriers and burden carriers.