The telehandler or telescopic handler is a heavy duty machine which is well-known in both the agriculture and construction industries. These machinery are rather 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 that can extend upwards and forwards from the vehicle. The operator could attach a lot of attachments on the end of the boom. Some of the most popular attachments include: a bucket, a muck grab, pallet forks or a lift table.
A telehandler typically utilizes pallet forks as their most popular attachment in order to transport loads through locations which are usually unreachable for a standard forklift. For example, telehandlers could transport loads to and from areas that are not normally accessible by conventional forklift models. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized cargo from within a trailer and place these loads in high places, such as on rooftops for instance. Before, this aforementioned situation will need a crane. Cranes can be pricey to use and not always a time-efficient or practical option.
Telehandler's are unique in that their advantage is also their largest drawback: because the boom raises or extends when the machinery 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 quickly as the working radius increases. The working radius is the distance between the center of the load and the front of the wheels.
Like for instance, a vehicle which has a 5000 lb. capacity with the boom retracted might be able to safely lift just as heavy as 400 lb. when it is completely extended with a low boom angle. The same unit with a 5000 lb. lift capacity which has the boom retracted may be able to easily support as heavy as 10,000 lb. with the boom raised up to 70.
The Matbro Company in Horley, Surrey, England initially 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 cab of the driver on the machine's back portion, as in the Teleram 40 unit. The rigid chassis design with the cab situated on the side and a rear mounted boom has ever since become increasingly more famous.