Hongyuan Machinery & Equipment Co., Ltd

The lift truck or forklift is a practical and popular machine for moving products over short distances. It is one of the most important industrial innovations in modern times, yet such position is often overlooked. People seldom remember its importance as it is so commonly used in industries. Today, over 150,000 forklifts are delivered to material handling buyers each year.
Lift trucks evolved from hoists, the primary means to lift and move heavy items in the late 1800s. These hoists, essentially chains and winches were replaced by wooden platform trucks at about the turn of the 20th century. Soon after that, the wooden forklift trucks and their trailers were combined with electric motors and traction batteries.
During WWI, newly designed machines were added with an electrical platform that could be raised or lowered. The war efforts inspired other new innovations, like bomb handling cranes containing a power lifting mechanism and this was considered to be the first electric lift truck.
Early lift truck models were quite simple. They had no hydraulics or even forks. These pieces of equipment were made to lift a load only a few inches so their chains and elbow grease were not that strong as today’s modern types. Though their lifting capacities were quite limited, yet these machines made the unloading and loading of freight much easier and more efficient and that’s why they became even more necessary during the labor shortage period during the war.
The fork lift truck which today we consider as the first fork lift truck was invented in 1923, by Yale. He produced the electric truck with raising forks and an elevated mast. The fork lift worked via a ratchet and pinion system. And it became a major breakthrough upon the development of the standardized pallet in the late 1930s.

Another major catalyst in the development of the forklift truck is WWII. During that time, laborers were in need of a more efficient way to load the large quantities of war goods to the numerous wagons and ships. The continual movement of goods of this period made it necessary for the electric trucks to last longer, and models that could work a full eight-hour shift were also developed during that time.
Today, fork lifts are seen almost everywhere. And there’re more and more new and advanced designs of forklifts. As automobile engineering and technology develop, you can look forward to even better versions in the near future. Those machines will be sure to make your work simpler and reduce the number of workers to load and unload goods.