Lift trucks are used to raise, engage and transport palletized loads in manufacturing, warehousing, material handling, mining and construction applications. There are 3 main kinds of forklifts: a manual drive, motorized drive and fork truck. The load movement or travel is powered manually or by walking at the rear of the equipment with manual-drive forklifts.
Motorized-drive model lift trucks are complete with a motorized drive. In a lot of instances, a protected cab or seat is part of the design to keep the operator comfortable and safe. Fork trucks are another kind that are motorized and consist of features like for example backup alarms and cabs. In order to prevent the equipment from turning over, some forklifts are counterbalanced. Other models comprise safety rails, a rotating element such as a turntable or different types of hand rails.
When selecting lift trucks, essential specifications to take into account 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 include their fuel type and tire.
Forklifts include different fuel options such as: LP or liquid propane, compressed natural gas or CNG, propane, diesel fuel, gasoline and natural gas. There are 2 basic types of tires for operating fork trucks and forklifts: solid and pneumatic. Solid or cushion tires do not puncture and require less maintenance than pneumatic tires. The cushion or solid tires do offer less shock absorption overall. Air-inflated or pneumatic tires however provide great drive traction and load-cushioning.
There are 7 classes of lift trucks. The first class of forklifts, Class I, is either stand-up or seated 3 wheeled units that are electric-motor rider trucks. Typically, rider units can have either cushion or pneumatic wheels and are counterbalanced. Class II lift trucks are electric motor units which are utilized for stock applications or order picking in narrow aisle environments. These types of forklifts provide extra reach functions or swing mast.
Forklift Class III lift trucks include 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 kinds of forklifts are rider fork trucks with internal combustion or IC engines. Additionally, this class has cushion or solid tires.
Class V lift trucks are rider fork trucks. They have seated controls and cabs, pneumatic tires and internal combustion or IC 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.
Class VII forklifts are the last classification and consist of rough terrain forklifts, which are normally used in construction, logging and agricultural applications. Class VII lift trucks include all personnel carriers and burden carriers.