The telehandler or telescopic handler is a heavy duty machinery which is popular within both the construction and agriculture industries. These equipment are quite similar in both function and appearance to the lift truck, except it more closely resembles a crane. The telehandler provides improved versatility of a single telescopic boom which can extend upwards as well as forwards from the vehicle. The operator can attach a lot of attachments on the end of the boom. Some of the most popular attachments comprise: a muck grab, a bucket, a lift table or pallet forks.
A telehandler normally uses pallet forks as their most common attachment to be able to transport loads through areas that are usually not reachable for a conventional forklift. For example, telehandlers can transport loads to and from areas that are not usually accessible by standard forklift models. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized cargo from within a trailer and position these loads in high locations, like on rooftops for instance. Previously, this situation mentioned above would need a crane. Cranes can be really pricey to utilize and not always a time-efficient or practical alternative.
One more advantage is also the telehandlers biggest 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 somewhat unstable, even with the counterweights on the rear. 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 example, a vehicle which has a 5000 pound capacity with the boom retracted might be able to safely raise just as heavy as 400 lb. once it is fully extended with a low boom angle. The same model with a 5000 pound lift capacity which has the boom retracted may be able to easily support as heavy as 10,000 pounds 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. Initially, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front portion. This placed the driver's cab on the machine's rear portion, 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 popular.