The telehandler or telescopic handler is a heavy duty machinery that is popular in both the agriculture and construction industries. These equipment are quite similar in both appearance and function to the forklift, except it more closely resembles a crane. The telehandler provides increased versatility of a single telescopic boom which can extend upwards as well as forwards from the vehicle. The operator has the ability to connect numerous attachments on the boom's end. Several of the most popular attachments consist of: a bucket, a muck grab, pallet forks or a lift table.
In order to move cargo through places which are usually not reachable for a typical forklift. The telehandler utilizes pallet forks as their most common attachment. For example, telehandlers could transport loads to and from locations that are not usually reachable by regular forklift models. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized cargo from inside a trailer and position these loads in high locations, such as on rooftops for example. Before, this aforementioned situation will need a crane. Cranes could be pricey to use and not always a practical or time-efficient alternative.
Telehandler's are unique in that their advantage is also their biggest limitation: since 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 rear counterweights. This translates to the lifting capacity decreasing fast as the working radius increases. The working radius is the distance between the front of the wheels and the center of the load.
When it is completely extended with a low boom angle for example, the telehandler would only have a 400 pound weight capacity, whereas a retracted boom can support weights up to 5000 pounds. The same model with a 5000 pound lift capacity that has the boom retracted might be able to easily support as heavy as 10,000 lb. with the boom raised up to 70.
England originally pioneered the telehandler in Horley, Surrey. The Matbro Company developed these machines from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. Initially, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front section. This positioned the cab of the driver on the rear portion of the equipment, 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 more popular.