A telehandler or a telescopic handler is a machine that is well-known in the construction and agriculture industries. These machines are similar in appearance and function to a forklift or a lift truck but are actually more similar to a crane instead of a forklift. The telehandler provides increased versatility of a single telescopic boom that could extend upwards as well as forwards from the vehicle. The operator can attach lots of attachments on the end of the boom. Some of the most popular attachments consist of: a muck grab, a bucket, a lift table or pallet forks.
In order to move cargo through locations that are usually not reachable for a typical forklift. The telehandler uses pallet forks as their most popular attachment. For example, telehandlers could transport cargo to and from locations that are not normally reachable by regular forklift units. These devices can also 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 require a crane. Cranes could be pricey to utilize and not always a practical or time-efficient option.
One more advantage is also the telehandlers biggest drawback: since the boom extends or raises when the machinery is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become quite unbalanced, despite the rear counterweights. 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 which has a 5000 pound capacity with the boom retracted might be able to safely raise just as much as 400 lb. when it is fully extended with a low boom angle. The same model with a 5000 lb. lift capacity that has the boom retracted may be able to easily support as heavy as 10,000 pounds with the boom raised up to 70.
The Matbro Company in Horley, Surrey, England first pioneered telehandlers. These equipment were developed from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. At first, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front section. This positioned the cab of the driver on the equipment's back part, as in the Teleram 40 unit. The rigid chassis design with a rear mounted boom and the cab situated on the side has since become more and more famous.