The telehandler or telescopic handler is a heavy duty equipment that is popular in both the construction and agriculture industries. These machines are rather similar in both function and appearance to the lift truck, except it more closely resembles a crane. The telehandler offers improved versatility of a single telescopic boom which can extend forwards and upwards from the vehicle. The operator can attach different types of attachments on the boom's end. Several of the most popular attachments comprise: a muck grab, a bucket, pallet forks or a lift table.
To be able to move loads through areas which are normally not reachable for a conventional forklift. The telehandler utilizes pallet forks as their most common attachment. For example, telehandlers could transport cargo to and from places that are not usually reachable by standard forklift units. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized cargo from in a trailer and position these loads in high locations, like on rooftops for instance. Before, this situation mentioned above would require a crane. Cranes could be really pricey to utilize and not always a practical or time-efficient alternative.
Telehandler's are unique in that their advantage is also their largest limitation: because the boom extends or raises when the equipment is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become somewhat unstable, despite the rear counterweights. This translates to the lifting capacity decreasing quickly as the working radius increases. The working radius is the distance between the front of the wheels and the center of the load.
For example, a vehicle that has a 5000 pound capacity with the boom retracted might be able to safely raise just as heavy as 400 lb. when it is fully extended with a low boom angle. The same model with a 5000 lb. lift capacity which has the boom retracted might be able to easily support as heavy as 10,000 pounds with the boom raised up to 70.
England originally pioneered the telehandler within Horley, Surrey. The Matbro Company developed these machines from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. At first, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front portion. This positioned the driver's cab on the machinery's back portion, like in the Teleram 40 unit. The rigid chassis design with the cab located on the side and a rear mounted boom has ever since become more famous.