The telehandler or telescopic handler is a heavy duty machine that is popular within both the agriculture and construction industries. These machines are rather 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 and forwards from the vehicle. The operator can connect numerous attachments on the boom's end. Several of the most popular attachments consist of: a muck grab, a bucket, pallet forks or a lift table.
To be able to move cargo through locations that are normally not reachable for a standard forklift. The telehandler utilizes pallet forks as their most popular attachment. For instance, telehandlers are able to move cargo to and from places which are not usually reachable by conventional forklift models. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized cargo from in a trailer and place these loads in high areas, like on rooftops for instance. Before, this abovementioned situation will require a crane. Cranes could be expensive to utilize and not always a time-efficient or practical option.
One more advantage is also the telehandlers biggest limitation: because the boom raises or extends when the equipment is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become somewhat unbalanced, despite the counterweights on the rear. This translates to the lifting capacity decreasing fast as the working radius increases. The working radius is the distance between the center of the load and the front of the wheels.
For instance, a vehicle that has a 5000 pound capacity with the boom retracted might be able to safely raise only as heavy as 400 pounds when it is completely extended with a low boom angle. The same unit with a 5000 lb. lift capacity that has the boom retracted might be able to easily support as much as 10,000 pounds with the boom raised up to 70.
The Matbro Company in Horley, Surrey, England originally pioneered telehandlers. These machines were developed 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 back portion of the equipment, like in the Teleram 40 unit. The rigid chassis design with a rear mounted boom and the cab situated on the side has ever since become more famous.