A telehandler or a telescopic handler is a machine which 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 increased versatility of a single telescopic boom that can extend forwards and upwards from the vehicle. The operator could connect different kinds of attachments on the end of the boom. Several of the most common attachments comprise: a bucket, a muck grab, a lift table or pallet forks.
To be able to transport cargo through locations which are usually unreachable for a conventional forklift. The telehandler utilizes pallet forks as their most common attachment. For instance, telehandlers can transport cargo to and from places which are not typically reachable by conventional forklift models. These devices can also remove palletized loads from within a trailer and place these loads in high places, such as on rooftops for example. Before, this aforementioned situation will require a crane. Cranes can be very expensive to utilize and not always a practical or time-efficient choice.
Another advantage is also the telehandlers biggest limitation: since the boom extends or raises when the machine is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become somewhat unstable, even with the rear counterweights. 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.
When it is fully extended with a low boom angle for instance, the telehandler will only have a 400 pound weight capacity, whereas a retracted boom can support weights up to 5000 lb. The same unit with a 5000 pound lift capacity that has the boom retracted may be able to easily support as much as 10,000 lb. with the boom raised up to 70.
The Matbro Company within Horley, Surrey, England originally pioneered telehandlers. These machines were developed 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 machine's back part, like in the Teleram 40 unit. The rigid chassis design with a rear mounted boom and the cab located on the side has ever since become more famous.