Forklift

A forklift, also called an industrial truck, lift truck or fork truck, is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances, built around a rear counterweight, a vertical mast for raising and lowering loads, hydraulic lifting systems and a pair of forks, or tines, that slide beneath a load to carry it. The Pennsylvania Railroad introduced early battery-powered platform trucks in 1906, and between 1917 and 1920 the companies Clark, Towmotor and Yale and Towne Manufacturing each developed powered lift tractors that led toward the modern forklift; the late 1930s brought hydraulic power, electric forklifts and standardized pallets that greatly increased adoption, and Lansing Bagnall developed the first narrow aisle electric reach truck in 1954. Forklifts became indispensable to manufacturing and warehousing after World War II, with global sales reaching over thirty billion dollars by 2013.