A telehandler or a telescopic handler is a machinery that is popular within the agriculture and construction businesses. These machinery are similar in appearance and function to a forklift or a lift truck but are actually more like a crane instead of a forklift. The telehandler offers improved versatility of a single telescopic boom that can extend forwards as well as upwards from the vehicle. The operator can attach lots of attachments on the end of the boom. Several of the most popular attachments consist of: a muck grab, a bucket, a lift table or pallet forks.
A telehandler normally utilizes pallet forks as their most common attachment to be able to move loads through areas that are normally unreachable for a conventional forklift. Like for example, telehandlers are able to move cargo to and from locations that are not typically reachable by conventional forklift units. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized loads from within a trailer and position these loads in high locations, such as on rooftops for instance. Before, this abovementioned situation will require a crane. Cranes can be pricey to use and not always a time-efficient or practical alternative.
Telehandler's are unique in that their advantage is also their largest limitation: because the boom extends or raises 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 instance, a vehicle which has a 5000 lb. capacity with the boom retracted may be able to safely raise just as heavy as 400 lb. once it is completely extended with a low boom angle. The same unit with a 5000 pound lift capacity that has the boom retracted might be able to easily support as heavy as 10,000 pounds with the boom raised up to 70.
England first pioneered the telehandler in Horley, Surrey. The Matbro Company developed these machinery from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. Initially, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front section. This positioned the cab of the driver on the rear part of the machinery, like in the Teleram 40 unit. The rigid chassis design with a rear mounted boom and the cab situated on the side has ever since become more and more famous.