Forklifts
In material handling, construction, warehousing and manufacturing operation, forklifts are normally used 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 numerous types of forklifts, the forklift has a protected cab or seat for the driver. Fork trucks have features such as cabs, and backup alarms and are also motorized. Various kinds of forklifts are counterbalanced so as to prevent the vehicle from tipping over. Other types of forklifts come outfitted with safety rails, or a rotating element like for example a turntable or a hand rail.
The stroke and lift capacity are other factors which you must take into account when selecting a type of forklift. Lift capacity is defined as the maximum, supportable force or load. Stroke is defined as the difference between completely raised and fully lowered lift positions.
Several of the other important specifications for the forklift include tire type and fuel type. The available fuel choices are: 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 types of tires that could be used. They are: solid and pneumatic. The solid or cushion tires need less maintenance compared to pneumatic tires and do not puncture easily. Air-inflated or pneumatic tires offer great drive traction and load-cushioning. At the end of the day, solid or cushion tires offer less shock absorption.
Generally utilized on rough terrain are Class VII forklifts. These kinds of machines are often used in construction, agriculture and in logging environments. Lastly, Class VIII forklifts have all burden and personnel carriers. Dual Fuel lift trucks frequently fit in this class.