Forklifts
In construction, material handling, warehousing and manufacturing applications, forklifts are normally used to move and lift palletized loads. With manual-drive forklifts, the travel or load movement is either powered manually or walk-behind. Motorized drive forklifts have a motorized drive. In many types of forklifts, the forklift has a protected seat or cab for the driver. Fork trucks have features such as backup alarms, and cabs and are also motorized. Several kinds of forklifts are counterbalanced in order to prevent the vehicle from turning over. Other models come equipped with safety rails, or a rotating element such as a hand rail or a turntable.
Other specifications that are important to think about when choosing a forklift are the stroke and lift capacity. Lift capacity is defined as the maximum, supportable load or force. Stroke is defined as the difference between completely raised and fully lowered lift positions.
The type of fuel and the type of tire are also other vital specifications which should be considered. The available fuel choices are: natural gas, LP or liquid propane, electricity, compressed natural gas or CNG, propane, diesel or gasoline.
For forklifts and fork trucks, there are two basic types of tires that could be used. They are: solid and pneumatic. The cushion or solid tires require less maintenance compared to pneumatic tires and do not puncture easily. Pneumatic or air-inflated tires provide load cushioning and great drive traction. At the end of the day, solid or cushion tires provide less shock absorption.
Class VII forklifts are usually designed to be utilized on rough terrain. These machines are often used in agriculture, construction and in logging environments. Last of all, Class VIII forklifts include all personnel and burden carriers. Dual Fuel lift trucks often fit in this class.