A telescopic handler or telehandler is a machine which is popular within the construction and agriculture businesses. These machinery are similar in appearance and function to a lift truck or a forklift but are really more similar to a crane rather than a forklift. The telehandler offers increased versatility of a single telescopic boom that could extend forwards as well as upwards from the vehicle. The operator has the ability to attach numerous attachments on the end of the boom. Some of the most popular attachments comprise: a muck grab, a bucket, pallet forks or a lift table.
In order to transport loads through areas which are normally unreachable for a conventional forklift. The telehandler utilizes pallet forks as their most common attachment. Like for instance, telehandlers are able to move cargo to and from places which are not normally accessible by regular forklift models. These devices could also remove palletized loads from within a trailer and position these loads in high areas, such as on rooftops for example. Before, this situation mentioned above would require a crane. Cranes can be really pricey to use and not always a time-efficient or practical choice.
Telehandler's are unique in that their advantage is also their largest limitation: since the boom raises or extends when the machinery is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become quite unstable, even with the counterweights on the rear. This translates to the lifting capacity decreasing quickly as the working radius increases. The working radius is the distance between the front of the wheels and the center of the load.
Like for example, a vehicle that has a 5000 pound capacity with the boom retracted might be able to safely raise just as much as 400 pounds when it is fully extended with a low boom angle. The same model with a 5000 pound lift capacity which has the boom retracted might be able to easily support as much as 10,000 pounds with the boom raised up to 70.
The Matbro Company in 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 positioned the driver's cab on the rear part of the machinery, as in the Teleram 40 unit. The rigid chassis design with the cab situated on the side and a rear mounted boom has since become increasingly more popular.