Lift trucks are used to lift, engage and transfer palletized loads within manufacturing, warehousing, material handling, construction and mining applications. There are 3 basic kinds of forklifts: 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 lots of cases have a seat or protected cab in their design to keep the operator comfortable and safe. Fork trucks are a different kind that are motorized and consist of features like for instance backup alarms and cabs. In order to prevent the machine from overturning, several lift trucks are counterbalanced. Other kinds of forklifts comprise safety rails, a rotating element like a turntable or different kinds of hand rails.
Important specifications to take into account when choosing forklifts consist of stroke and lift capacity. Stroke is defined as the difference between the fully-raised and the fully-lowered lift positions. Lift capacity is the maximum, supportable load or forcforce or load. Additional specifications for forklifts comprise their tire and fuel type.
Different fuel options for lift trucks include: LP or liquid propane, CNG or compressed natural gas, diesel fuel, propane, natural gas and gasoline. There are 2 major kinds of tires for operating forklifts and fork trucks: solid and pneumatic. Solid or cushion tires do not puncture and require less maintenance compared to pneumatic tires. The solid or cushion tires do provide less shock absorption in general. Air-inflated or pneumatic tires however provide excellent drive traction and load-cushioning.
There are 7 classes of lift trucks. The first class of lift trucks, Class I, is either seated or stand-up 3 wheeled units that are electric-motor rider trucks. Usually, rider units may have either pneumatic or cushion wheels and are counterbalanced. Class II lift trucks are electric motor units that are utilized for stock applications or order picking in narrow aisle setting. These types of forklifts offer extra swing mast or reach functions.
Forklift Class III lift trucks consist of standing-rider or walk-behind operated electric-motor trucks. Automated pallet lift trucks and high lift models 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. Furthermore, this class utilizes cushion or solid tires.
Class V lift trucks are rider fork trucks. They have seated controls and cabs, pneumatic tires and IC or internal combustion engines. Like Class IV forklifts, they are usually counterbalanced. Class VI lift trucks are tow tractor lifts which are designed for a sit-down rider. This particular class is supplied with IC or internal combustion or electric engines.
Class VII lift trucks are the last classification and consist of rough terrain lift trucks, which are usually used in logging, agricultural and construction applications. Class VII forklifts consist of all burden carriers and employee carriers.