Forklifts
In material handling, construction, warehousing and manufacturing operation, forklifts are normally utilized to transport and raise palletized loads. With manual-drive forklifts, the travel or load movement is either walk-behind or manually powered. Motorized drive forklifts have a motorized drive. In various types of forklifts, the forklift has a protected seat or cab for the operator. Fork trucks include features such as backup alarms, and cabs and are also motorized. Various models of forklifts are counterbalanced so as to prevent the vehicle from turning over. Other models come outfitted with safety rails, or a rotating element like a turntable or a hand rail.
The stroke and lift capacity are other factors that you must take into consideration when choosing a kind of forklift. Lift capacity is defined as the supportable, maximum load or force. Stroke is defined as the difference between completely lowered and fully raised lift positions.
Some of the other key specifications for the forklift include fuel type and tire type. The fuel choices available include: liquid propane or LP, natural gas, compressed natural gas or CNG, electricity, gasoline, propane or diesel.
For fork trucks and forklifts, there are two basic kinds of tires which could be used. They are: pneumatic and solid. The solid or cushion tires require less maintenance compared to pneumatic tires and do not puncture easily. Pneumatic or air-inflated tires provide load cushioning and great drive traction. At the end of the day, solid or cushion tires provide less shock absorption.
Class VII forklifts are normally designed to be utilized on rough terrain. These machinery are usually utilized in agriculture, construction and in logging environments. Lastly, Class VIII forklifts include all personnel and burden carriers. Dual Fuel forklifts often fit in this class.