Lift trucks are utilized in manufacturing, warehousing, construction, mining and material handling applications to lift, engage and transport palletized loads. Forklifts have 3 basic types: a manual drive, motorized drive and fork truck. The load movement or travel is powered manually or by walking behind 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 in order to keep the operator comfortable and safe. Fork trucks are another kind which are motorized and include features such as backup alarms and cabs. In order to prevent the equipment from tipping over, some lift trucks are counterbalanced. Other types of forklifts consist of safety rails, a rotating element like a turntable or other kinds of hand rails.
When selecting lift trucks, essential specifications to take into account comprise stroke and lift capacity. 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. Other specifications for forklifts consist of their tire and type of fuel.
Different fuel options for forklifts consist of: liquid propane or LPG, compressed natural gas or CNG, propane, diesel fuel, gasoline and natural gas. There are 2 major kinds of tires for operating fork trucks and forklifts: solid and pneumatic. Cushion or solid tires require less maintenance compared to pneumatic tires and do not puncture. The solid or cushion tires do provide less shock absorption overall. Pneumatic or air-inflated tires on the other hand provide great drive traction and load-cushioning.
There are 7 classes of forklifts. The first class of forklifts, Class I, is either seated or stand-up 3 wheeled units which are electric-motor rider trucks. Usually, rider units are counterbalanced and could have either cushion or pneumatic wheels. Class II lift trucks are electric motor units which are utilized for stock applications or order picking in narrow aisle environments. These kinds of forklifts offer extra reach functions or swing mast.
Class III forklifts are either standing-rider or walk-behind operated electric-motor trucks. Automated pallet lift trucks and high lift models are normally counterbalanced units. Class IV forklifts have cabs and seated controls. These models are rider fork trucks with internal combustion or IC engines. Furthermore, this class has cushion or solid tires.
Rider fork Trucks are incorporated in Class V. These machines would have seated controls and cabs, pneumatic tires and IC or internal combustion engines. Similar to Class IV lift trucks, they are typically counterbalanced. Class VI lift trucks are tow tractor lifts that are designed for a sit-down rider. This class is supplied with electric or IC or internal combustion engines.
Finally, Class VII forklifts are the ideal option for use on rough terrain areas. They are a common feature in agricultural, construction and logging applications. Class VII lift trucks consist of all burden carriers and employee carriers.