The telehandler or telescopic handler is a heavy duty machinery which is popular within both the agriculture and construction businesses. These machinery are quite similar in both function and appearance to the forklift, except it more closely resembles a crane. The telehandler offers improved versatility of a single telescopic boom that could extend forwards and upwards from the vehicle. The operator could attach different kinds of attachments on the end of the boom. Several of the most common attachments consist of: a muck grab, a bucket, pallet forks or a lift table.
A telehandler typically uses pallet forks as their most common attachment to be able to transport loads through places which are usually not reachable for a standard forklift. Like for example, telehandlers can move cargo to and from locations that are not normally reachable by regular forklift models. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized cargo from in a trailer and place these loads in high locations, like on rooftops for instance. Previously, this aforementioned situation will need a crane. Cranes can be very pricey to utilize and not always a practical or time-efficient option.
One more advantage is also the telehandlers biggest drawback: because the boom raises or extends when the machinery is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become somewhat unstable, despite the counterweights on the rear. 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 instance, a vehicle which has a 5000 lb. capacity with the boom retracted might be able to safely raise just as heavy as 400 lb. once it is completely extended with a low boom angle. The same model 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.
England originally pioneered the telehandler within Horley, Surrey. The Matbro Company developed these machinery from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. At first, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front portion. This placed the driver's cab on the rear part of the machine, 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 famous.