A forklift truck, a lift truck, a High/Low or a forklift and sideloader is a powered industrial truck

used to lift and transport materials, normally by means of steel forks inserted under the load.
Forklifts are most commonly used to move loads stored on pallets. The forklift was developed in
the 1920s by various companies including the transmission manufacturing company Clark (today
known as Clark Material Handling Company) and the hoist company Yale & Towne
Manufacturing (today known as Yale Materials Handling Corporation)[1]. It has since become an
indispensable piece of equipment in manufacturing and warehousing operations.

Contents [hide]
1 Design types
2 Characteristics
3 Control and capability
4 Forklift safety
4.1 Standards
4.2 General
5 Today's market
6 Manufacturers
7 Popular culture
8 Notes
9 See also
10 External links
10.1 Standards
10.2 Organizations
10.3 Safety Information
10.4 News and History

Design types
There are many national and/or continental associations related to the industrial trucks. The three
major ones are the Industrial Truck Association (North America), the Fédération Européenne de la
Manutention (Europe), and the Japan Industrial Vehicles Association (Japan). There are many
significant contacts among them and they have established joint statistical and engineering
programs. One program is the WITS (World Industrial Trucks Statistics) published every month to
the association memberships. The statistics are separated by area (continent), country, and class of
machine. While the statistics are generic, and do not count production from most of the smaller
manufacturers, the information is significant for its depth. These contacts have brought to a
common definition of the Class System, which all the major manufacturers adhere to. Following is
the list of the more common truck types, from the smallest to the biggest:

Hand pallet truck (a "pump truck", or a "chep truck", or a "hand-jack", a simple mechanism
whereby hand-pumped hydraulics raise or lower a single pallet simply to provide clearance from
the floor for manual (hand) pulling; heavy loads are unwieldy or risk injury to operators.)
(Separate article to follow with photographs.)
Walkie low lift truck (powered pallet truck, usually electrically powered)
Rider low lift truck
Towing tractor
Walkie stacker
Rider stacker
Reach truck (small forklift, designed for small aisles, usually electrically powered)
Electric counterbalanced truck
IC counterbalanced truck
Sideloader
Telescopic handler
Slip Sheet machine
Walkie Order Picking truck
Rider Order Picking truck (commonly called an "Order Picker"; like a small forklift, except the
operator rides up to the load and transfers it article by article)
Very narrow aisle truck (usually a reach truck designed for aisles less than five feet wide)
For a common (North American) reference, Home Depot, Lowes and Rona generally employ
reach trucks inside the store and "traditional" forklifts when the store is closed. Most employees of
such warehouse stores will happily explain the differences between the machines.

Characteristics
A typical forklift may be generally described as follows:

The truck proper, which is a motive machine with wheels and/or tracks powered through a drive
train.
A liquefied petroleum gas–, petrol- or diesel fueled internal combustion engine, or an electric
motor(s) either direct current or alternating current powered by either a battery or fuel cells.
The mast, which is the vertical assembly that does the work of raising, lowering, and tilting the
load; the mast is either hydraulically operated consisting of one or more cylinder(s) and
interlocking rails for lifting and lowering operations and for lateral stability, or it may be chain
operated with a hydraulic motor providing motive power.
The carriage, which comprises flat metal plate(s) and is moved along the mast either by means of
chains, or by being directly attached to the hydraulic cylinder.
One or more forks, which are the L-shaped members that engage the load. The back vertical
portion of the fork attaches to the carriage most often by means of a hook or latch (Class I to IV
forks), while some forks use a shaft mount. The front horizontal portion (which is usually tapered
for ease of insertion) is inserted into or under the load, usually on a pallet or skid. Alternatively, a
variety of other equipment is available, including slipsheet clamps, carton clamps, carpet rams,
pole handlers, container handlers, roll clamps and others.
A load back rest is fitted when the load is higher than the top of the carriage, and is a rack-like
extension either bolted or welded to the carriage to prevent the load from shifting backward.
Rider operated machines have a driver's overhead guard, which is a metal roof, supported by
posts, that helps protect the operator from any falling objects.
The cab, which may contain a seat for the operator, along with the control pedals, steering wheel,
levers, and switches for controlling the machine and a dashboard containing operator readouts.
The cab may be open, or closed, but is bounded by the cage-like overhead guard assembly.
Counterbalance machines have a counterweight, which is a heavy iron mass attached to the rear of
the machine, necessary to compensate for the load. In an electric forklift, the large lead-acid
battery itself may serve as part of the counterweight.

Control and capability

Forklift trucks are available in many variations and load capacities. In a typical warehouse setting
most forklifts used have load capacities of around one to five tons, though machines of over 50
tonnes capacity have been built and operated.

In addition to a control to raise and lower the forks (also known as blades or tines), the operator
can tilt the mast to compensate for a load's tendency to angle the blades toward the ground and
risk slipping off the forks. Tilt also provides a limited ability to operate on non-level ground. Some
machines also allow the operator to move the tines and backrest laterally (side-shift), allowing
easier placement of a load. To aid the handling of skids that may have become excessively tilted
and other specialty material handling needs, some forklifts are fitted with a mechanism that allows
the tines to be rotated. In addition, a few machines offer a hydraulic control to move the tines
together or apart, removing the need for the operator to get out of the cab to manually adjust for a
differently sized load.

Roll and barrel clamp attachments for handling barrels, kegs, or paper rolls also have a control to
operate the clamp pads that grab the load, such attachments also usually have a rotate function so
that a vertically stored paper roll can be inserted into the horizontal intake of a printing press.

In some locations (such as carpet warehouses) a long metal pole is used instead of forks to lift
large rolls. Similar devices, though much larger are used to pick up 40 tonne metal coils.

Another variation, used in some manufacturing facilities, utilizes forklift trucks with a clamp
attachment that the operator can open and close around a load, instead of forks. Products such as
cartons, boxes, etc., can be moved with these trucks. The product to be moved is squeezed, lifted,
and carried to its destination. These are generally referred to as "clamp trucks".

Skilled forklift operators annually compete in obstacle and timed challenges at regional forklift
rodeos.

Forklift safety

Standards
Forklift safety is subject to a variety of standards world wide. The most important standard is the
ANSI B56—of which stewardship has now been passed from the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) to the Industrial Truck Standards Development Foundation after multi-year
negotiations. ITSDF is a non-profit organization whose only purpose is the promulgation and
modernization of the B56 standard.

Other standards have been promulgatd by the U.S Occupational Safety and Health Administration
and the United Kindom's Health and Safety Executive. Lift truck operators must be trained and
certified.

General
Forklifts are rated for loads at a specified maximum weight and a specified forward centre of
gravity. This information is located on a nameplate provided by the manufacturer, and loads must
not exceed these specifications. In many jurisdictions it is illegal to remove or tamper with the
nameplate, without the permission of the forklift manufacturer.

An important aspect of forklift operation is that many have rear-wheel steering. While this
increases maneuverability in tight cornering situations, it differs from a driver’s traditional
experience with other wheeled vehicles as there is no caster action; it is unnecessary to apply
steering force to maintain a constant rate of turn.

Another critical characteristic of the forklift is its instability; the forklift and load must be
considered a unit, with a continually varying centre of gravity with every movement of the load. A
forklift must never negotiate a turn at speed with a raised load, where centrifugal and gravitational
forces may combine to cause a disastrous tip-over accident. The forklift will be designed with a
load limit for the forks, which is decreased with fork elevation and undercutting of the load (i.e.
load does not butt against the fork "L"). A loading plate for loading reference is usually located on
the forklift. A forklift must not be used as a personnel elevator without the fitting of specific safety
equipment, such as a "cherry picker" or "cage".

Today's market
Five companies now dominate the counterbalanced forklift market in terms of worldwide sales.
They are:

Toyota Industries Corporation (3.47 M€ in '03/04)[2]

KION Group (2.94 M€ in '03)
Jungheinrich (1.35 M€ in '03)
NACCO Industries, Inc. (NMHG) (1.27 M€ in '03) with Yale and Hyster Brands
Crown Equipment

Manufacturers

Old French Manitou forklift in the harbour of Pors-Éven, FranceOver 300 brands of forklift have
existed. Many have disappeared through acquisitions, others have gone bankrupt, and some shut
down. A list of manufacturers currently producing industrial trucks in the USA and UK can be
found on the ITA website.

Popular culture
Jughead Jones uses a forklift to destroy a robot supersoldier in the first Time Police story.
Marco/Tarma/Troevor/Nadia use a forklift as a weapon in Metal Slug 4.
Ken is attacked with a forklift in Fugitive Alien, the feature shown in episode 310 of Mystery
Science Theater 3000. Inspired by this, the show's main characters sing a song containing the lyric
"He tried to kill me with a forklift" in episodes 310 and 318, Star Force: Fugitive Alien II.
In the Family Guy episode "A Fish out of Water", Peter decides to go for a walk, but since he's
become morbidly obese since he lost his job, his "walk" consisted of Brian carrying him on a
forklift.
On the Disney Pixar animated film Cars, one of the inhabitants of Radiator Springs is an Italian
forklift named Guido, who only knows two words in English, "Pit" and "Stop". He says "Uh oh"
and "Boss" in the Cars video game.
Comedian Jimeoin's 1997 CD is entitled "Forklift Truck".