Lift trucks are used in manufacturing, warehousing, mining, material handling and construction applications to raise, engage and transfer palletized loads. Lift trucks have 3 main types: a fork truck, manual drive and motorized drive. The load movement or travel is powered manually or by walking behind the equipment with manual-drive forklifts.
The motorized forklift models come equipped with a motorized drive and in many cases have a protected cab or seat in their design to keep the operator comfortable and safe. Fork trucks are another type which are motorized and include features such as cabs and backup alarms. In order to prevent the vehicle from overturning, several lift trucks are counterbalanced. Other types of forklifts comprise safety rails, a rotating element like a turntable or different types of hand rails.
When choosing forklifts, important specifications to take into account consist of lift capacity and stroke. Stroke is defined as the difference between the fully-lowered and the fully-raised lift positions. Lift capacity is the maximum, supportable load or forcforce or load. Other specifications for lift trucks comprise their type of fuel and tire.
Forklifts comprise various fuel options like: LP or liquid propane, CNG or compressed natural gas, diesel fuel, propane, natural gas and gasoline. There are 2 major kinds of tires used for operating forklifts and fork trucks: pneumatic and solid. Solid or cushion tires require less maintenance than pneumatic tires and do not puncture. The cushion or solid tires do provide less shock absorption in general. Air-inflated or pneumatic tires on the other hand offer excellent load-cushioning and drive traction.
There are 7 classes of lift trucks. The first class of forklifts, Class I, is either seated or stand-up 3 wheeled units that are electric-motor rider trucks. Typically, rider units could have either cushion or pneumatic wheels and are counterbalanced. Class II forklifts are electric motor units that are used for stock applications or order picking in narrow aisle environments. These types of forklifts offer extra reach functions or swing mast.
Forklift Class III lift trucks include walk-behind or standing-rider operated electric-motor trucks. High lift models and automated pallet lift trucks are usually counterbalanced units. Class IV lift trucks have seated controls and cabs. These models are rider fork trucks with IC or internal combustion engines. Moreover, this class has cushion or solid tires.
Rider fork Trucks are incorporated in Class V. These machinery would have seated controls and cabs, pneumatic tires and IC or internal combustion engines. Similar to Class IV forklifts, they are usually counterbalanced. Class VI lift trucks are tow tractor lifts that are designed for a sit-down rider. This particular class is supplied with IC or internal combustion or electric engines.
Finally, Class VII lift trucks are the ideal choice for use on rough terrain areas. They are a common feature in logging, agricultural and construction applications. Class VII lift trucks consist of all burden carriers and employee carriers.