Lift trucks are utilized to lift, engage and transport palletized loads within manufacturing, warehousing, material handling, construction and mining applications. There are 3 main kinds of lift trucks: a motorized drive, fork truck and manual drive. The travel or load movement is powered manually or by walking at the rear of the machinery with manual-drive forklifts.
The motorized forklift models come equipped with a motorized drive and in lots of cases have a seat or protected cab in their design to keep the operator comfortable and safe. Fork trucks are a different type that are motorized and comprise features like for instance backup alarms and cabs. In order to prevent the equipment from turning over, several forklifts are counterbalanced. Other kinds of forklifts include safety rails, a rotating element such as a turntable or different types of hand rails.
Important specifications to take into consideration when selecting lift trucks consist of stroke and lift capacity. Stroke is defined as the difference between the fully-lowered and the fully-raised lift positions. Lift capacity is the supportable, maximum load or forcforce or load. Other specifications for lift trucks comprise their tire and type of fuel.
Different fuel options for lift trucks include: liquid propane or LPG, compressed natural gas or CNG, propane, diesel fuel, natural gas and gasoline. There are 2 basic types of tires used for operating fork trucks and forklifts: pneumatic and solid. Solid or cushion tires do not puncture and need less maintenance compared to pneumatic tires. The solid or cushion tires do provide less shock absorption overall. Air-inflated or pneumatic tires however offer excellent load-cushioning and drive traction.
For lift trucks, there are 7 classes. Class 1 forklifts incorporate electric-motor rider trucks, seated or stand-up 3 wheeled units. Normally, rider units can have either pneumatic or cushion wheels and are counterbalanced. Class II lift trucks are electric motor units that are utilized for order picking or stock applications in narrow aisle environments. These models provide 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 often counterbalanced units. Class IV forklifts have seated controls and cabs. These types of forklifts are rider fork trucks with internal combustion or IC engines. Additionally, this class has solid or cushion tires.
Class V lift trucks are rider fork trucks. They have cabs and seated controls, pneumatic tires and internal combustion or IC engines. Similar to Class IV lift trucks, they are typically counterbalanced. Class VI forklifts are tow tractor lifts which are designed for a sit-down rider. This class is supplied with electric or IC or internal combustion engines.
Class VII forklifts are the last classification and consist of rough terrain forklifts, which are normally utilized in agricultural, construction and logging applications. Class VII lift trucks consist of all personnel carriers and burden carriers.