A telehandler or a telescopic handler is a machine that is well-known in the construction and agriculture businesses. These equipment are similar in function and appearance to a lift truck or a forklift but are really more like a crane rather than a forklift. The telehandler provides improved versatility of a single telescopic boom which can extend upwards and forwards from the vehicle. The operator could attach a lot of attachments on the end of the boom. Several of the most common attachments include: a muck grab, a bucket, pallet forks or a lift table.
To be able to move cargo through areas which are usually not reachable for a standard forklift. The telehandler utilizes pallet forks as their most common attachment. For instance, telehandlers can transport loads to and from locations which are not usually reachable by standard forklift models. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized loads from in a trailer and place these loads in high locations, like on rooftops for example. Before, this aforementioned situation will need a crane. Cranes can be very pricey to use and not always a practical or time-efficient option.
Another advantage is also the telehandlers largest drawback: 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 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.
For example, a vehicle that has a 5000 lb. capacity with the boom retracted may be able to safely lift only as much as 400 lb. when it is fully 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 in Horley, Surrey. The Matbro Company developed these machines from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. At first, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front section. This placed the driver's cab on the back portion of the equipment, like in the Teleram 40 unit. The rigid chassis design with the cab located on the side and a rear mounted boom has ever since become more and more famous.