Lift trucks are used to raise, engage and transfer palletized loads within warehousing, manufacturing, material handling, mining and construction applications. There are 3 main kinds of lift trucks: a fork truck, manual drive and motorized drive. The travel or load movement is powered manually or by walking behind the machine with manual-drive forklifts.
The motorized forklift models come equipped with a motorized drive and in a lot of cases have a protected cab or seat in their design in order to keep the operator comfortable and safe. Fork trucks are a different type which are motorized and consist of features like backup alarms and cabs. In order to prevent the vehicle from overturning, several forklifts are counterbalanced. Other models comprise safety rails, a rotating element like a turntable or different kinds of hand rails.
Important specifications to take into account when choosing lift trucks include 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 lift trucks comprise their type of fuel and tire.
Different fuel options for lift trucks comprise: liquid propane or LPG, CNG or compressed natural gas, propane, diesel fuel, natural gas and gasoline. There are 2 major types of tires used for operating forklifts and fork trucks: solid and pneumatic. Solid or cushion tires need less maintenance than pneumatic tires and do not puncture. The cushion or solid tires do provide less shock absorption in general. Pneumatic or air-inflated tires however provide great load-cushioning and drive traction.
For forklifts, there are 7 classes. Class 1 lift trucks include electric-motor rider trucks, seated or stand-up 3 wheeled units. Usually, rider units are counterbalanced and may have either pneumatic or cushion wheels. Class II lift trucks are electric motor units which are utilized for order picking or stock applications in narrow aisle setting. These types of forklifts offer extra reach functions or swing mast.
Class III lift trucks are either 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 cabs and seated controls. These models are rider fork trucks with internal combustion or IC engines. In addition, this class uses solid or cushion tires.
Rider fork Trucks are included in Class V. These machines will have cabs and seated controls, pneumatic tires and IC or internal combustion engines. Like Class IV forklifts, they are typically counterbalanced. Class VI lift trucks are tow tractor lifts which are designed for a sit-down rider. This particular class is supplied with electric or IC or internal combustion engines.
Class VII lift trucks are the last classification and include rough terrain lift trucks, which are normally utilized in logging, agricultural and construction applications. Class VII lift trucks include all burden carriers and employee carriers.