A telescopic handler or telehandler is a machine that is popular within the construction and agriculture businesses. These machines are similar in function and appearance to a lift truck or a forklift but are really more like a crane instead of a forklift. The telehandler offers improved versatility of a single telescopic boom that could extend forwards as well as upwards from the vehicle. The operator has the ability to connect many 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 transport loads through locations which are usually unreachable for a conventional forklift. The telehandler utilizes pallet forks as their most common attachment. Like for instance, telehandlers could transport cargo to and from locations that are not normally accessible by standard forklift models. These devices can also remove palletized loads from in a trailer and position these loads in high places, such as on rooftops for instance. Before, this situation mentioned above will need a crane. Cranes could be expensive to use and not always a practical or time-efficient choice.
Another advantage is also the telehandlers largest limitation: since the boom raises or extends when the equipment is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become quite unbalanced, even with the counterweights on the back. 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.
For instance, a vehicle that has a 5000 pound capacity with the boom retracted might be able to safely lift just as much as 400 lb. once it is fully extended with a low boom angle. The same unit with a 5000 pound lift capacity which has the boom retracted might be able to easily support as much as 10,000 lb. with the boom raised up to 70.
England first pioneered the telehandler within Horley, Surrey. The Matbro Company developed these equipment from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. Initially, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front section. This placed the cab of the driver on the machine's rear portion, as in the Teleram 40 model. The rigid chassis design with the cab located on the side and a rear mounted boom has ever since become more famous.