A forklift (also called a lift truck, a high/low, a stacker-truck, trailer loader or a sideloader) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and transport materials. The modern forklift was developed in the 1920s by various companies including the transmission manufacturing company Clark and the hoist company Yale & Towne Manufacturing. The forklift has since become an indispensable piece of equipment in manufacturing and warehousing operations.
The following is a list of the more common lift truck types. It is arranged from the smallest type of lift to largest:
- Hand pallet truck
- Walkie low lift truck (powered pallet truck, usually electrically powered)
- Rider low lift truck
- Towing tractor
- Walkie stacker
- Rider stacker
- Reach truck (small forklift, designed for small aisles, usually electrically powered, so-named because the forks can extend to reach the load)
- Electric counterbalanced truck
- IC counterbalanced truck
- Sideloader
- Telescopic handler
- Slip Sheet machine
- Walkie Order Picking truck
- Rider Order Picking truck (commonly called an "Order Picker"; like a small forklift, except the operator rides up to the load and transfers it article by article)
- Articulated Very Narrow Aisle Counterbalanced trucks (commonly called "Flexi Truck")
- Guided Very Narrow Aisle truck - 'Man Down' (a type of reach truck designed for aisles less than five feet wide) and 'Man Riser' Combination pickcle Picker/ Stacker truck
- Truck Mounted Forklift / Sod Loader
Specialty trucks
At the other end of the spectrum from the counterbalanced forklift trucks are more 'high end' specialty trucks:
- Articulated Counterbalance Trucks
These are, unlike most other lift trucks, front wheel steer, and are a hybrid VNA (Very Narrow Aisle) truck designed to be both able to offload trailers and place the load in narrow aisle racking. Increasingly these trucks are able to compete in terms of pallet storage density, lift heights and pallet throughput with Guided Very Narrow Aisle trucks.
- Guided Very Narrow Aisle Trucks
These are rail or wide guided and available with lift heights up to 40' non top-tied and 98' top-tied. Two forms are available; 'man-down' and 'man-riser' where the operator elevates with the load for increased visibility or for multilevel 'break bulk' order picking. This type of truck, unlike Articulated Narrow Aisle Trucks, requires a high standard of floor flatness.
- U.S. Military 10K-AT "Adverse Terrain"
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