The telehandler or telescopic handler is a heavy duty machine that is well-known in both the construction and agriculture businesses. These machines are quite similar in both function and appearance to the forklift, except it more closely resembles a crane. The telehandler offers increased versatility of a single telescopic boom which can extend upwards as well as forwards from the vehicle. The operator could connect many attachments on the end of the boom. Some of the most common attachments include: a bucket, a muck grab, a lift table or pallet forks.
A telehandler typically utilizes pallet forks as their most popular attachment in order to move cargo through locations that are usually not reachable for a standard forklift. Like for instance, telehandlers can transport loads to and from areas that are not typically reachable by conventional forklift models. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized loads from inside a trailer and place these loads in high areas, like on rooftops for example. Before, this situation mentioned above will require a crane. Cranes could be really expensive to use and not always a practical or time-efficient option.
Another advantage is also the telehandlers largest drawback: since the boom extends or raises when the machine is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become somewhat unstable, 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.
When it is fully extended with a low boom angle for instance, the telehandler will just have a 400 pound weight capacity, whereas a retracted boom can support weights up to 5000 pounds. The same model with a 5000 pound lift capacity which has the boom retracted may be able to easily support as much as 10,000 lb. 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. 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 equipment, as in the Teleram 40 unit. The rigid chassis design with a rear mounted boom and the cab located on the side has ever since become more and more popular.