The telehandler or telescopic handler is a heavy duty machine which is popular in both the agriculture and construction industries. These machinery are rather similar in both function and appearance to the forklift, except it more closely resembles a crane. The telehandler provides improved versatility of a single telescopic boom which can extend forwards and upwards from the vehicle. The operator can connect numerous attachments on the boom's end. Several of the most popular attachments comprise: a muck grab, a bucket, a lift table or pallet forks.
To be able to transport cargo through places which are usually not reachable for a standard forklift. The telehandler utilizes pallet forks as their most popular attachment. Like for example, telehandlers are able to transport cargo to and from areas that are not usually reachable by conventional forklift units. These devices could also remove palletized cargo from in a trailer and place these loads in high areas, like on rooftops for example. Before, this situation mentioned above would need a crane. Cranes could be expensive to use and not always a practical or time-efficient choice.
One more advantage is also the telehandlers biggest limitation: as the boom extends or raises when the machine is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become somewhat unstable, even with the counterweights on the rear. This translates to the lifting capacity decreasing quickly as the working radius increases. The working radius is the distance between the center of the load and the front of the wheels.
For instance, a vehicle that has a 5000 lb. capacity with the boom retracted might be able to safely lift only as much as 400 lb. when it is fully extended with a low boom angle. The same unit with a 5000 pound lift capacity that has the boom retracted might be able to easily support as much as 10,000 lb. with the boom raised up to 70.
The Matbro Company in Horley, Surrey, England first pioneered telehandlers. These machinery were developed from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. At first, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front section. This positioned the driver's cab on the machinery's rear portion, as in the Teleram 40 unit. The rigid chassis design with the cab located on the side and a rear mounted boom has since become increasingly more popular.