Talk:Forklift

Split into Category?

There are about a million different types of forklift truck out there, and I KNOW this page is confusing to some readers. I'm a Home Depot manager, and we use several different kinds of forklifts in each store, so I've been using this page for training. I get lots of questions from my Associates - "What is this, again?".

Licensing and safety issues also should be separate. Good example of a weird one is that Home Depot doesn't use an Ontario (Canada) Ministry of Labour (or other regional) forklift license; we use our own. The apparent justification is that we're not a warehouse; we're a warehouse with the general public in it, and I can assure you from personal experience that they'd walk under the forks of my reach truck if we let them. The Home Depot license is therefore extremely stringent, more stringent that the government, but is not recognized by the Ontario Ministry of Labour. (I'd need an MOL license to drive one anywhere else in Ontario, but with my HD training and experience, they'd just have me write a test and stack a few pallets.)

I'd like to see a "collector" page which shows the various kinds of forklifts, and then directs readers to the specific sub-class of lift truck they're interested in.

Definitely required sub-pages are traditional forklifts, reach trucks, order pickers, walkies, pallet jacks, container forklifts, truck-mounted forklifts, safety, licensing. Can anyone think of others?

(BTW, I'm licensed on all that Home Depot uses, except the slipsheet which isn't used in Canada.)

Yiddophile (talk) 02:47, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Image

great image, but it needs to be referenced :) Kingturtle 03:43 31 May 2003 (UTC)

It's also not especially typical of standard forklifts as it appears to be a type known as a reach truck. They use a scissor mechanism to extend the backrest from the mast allowing manouevering in tight spaces. Notice how in the top pic, the forks couldn't be moved all the way into the pallet without hitting the diesel tank and wheels unless the forks are extended?Gest 10:33, 11 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I drive a forklift at my job, and I have a digital camera. Such possibilities! I can provide pictures of a regular-style forklift, optionally with a barrel attachment or a carpet ram attached.

Drop me a line on my talk page if you want pictures. Dbenbenn 19:12, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Pallets

It seems to me that the article needs to refer to pallets somewhere, but I wasn't sure where it should. -- Dominus 15:08, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I wasn't really sure how to smoothly work it into the existing article, either. So I added it as a related link for now. Figure that's better than no mention at all. :) -- Zawersh 18:35, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I would like to link to a buyer's guide my company put out about how to purchase forklifts. It's non-vendor specific and serves as an education tool for people in the market for a forklift. Can I post the link as long as I don't promote the business in the initial link? Please let me know. Thank you. -- 23:29, 22 Jul 2006 (UTC)

Major additions

I just made some major changes - as usual please spell/grammar check. UrbanTerrorist 23:25, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

• Note that the 300 manufacturer database is real - I'm the person who's supplying it to the ITA. UrbanTerrorist 23:35, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Container Handling Equipment

The page does not mention Container Handlers or Reach Stackers. Do these qualify as forklifts? 203.46.228.5 00:29, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

seems to me quite a bit is missing in the materials handling basis. I read the definition of a forklift at the beginning of the site and it said something with forks under the load.... On that basis I added the Log handling equipment....

Now much of the container handling equipment isn't under the load but lifts it from the top, but I can't see why at least the machines that sort of look like a forklift and grab the containers on the top corners and pack them around aren't 'forklifts' just because the 'forks' are on top of the load.

My parse would be there straddle carriers and the like are not, but taking a broader view, it seems to me that 'container handling equipment' under some name ought to have its own page as being different enough to justify it.---with all kinds of container handling equipment, with a cross reference to forklifts ultimately, --- but then I'm not a big cheeze at wiki, and no clue what the cheezes think Rvannatta 05:02, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Dealers section

I deleted this section as per Wikipedia's policy on Exetrnal Links and commercial sites. Triwbe (talk) 15:52, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Rewrite and wikify

I've started rewriting parts of this article to make it more understandable to a layman.Shinerunner (talk) 12:42, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Electric Forklifts

A section about electric forklifts (i.e. [1]).

Forklift training in the UK

I have added a paragraph explaining that the plethora of training schemes offered in the UK and believed by many people in the industry to be a legal requirement are not so, despite what the training organisations (ie the people SELLING the training) may say. The entire section wants reworking significantly, or at least most of the assertions need referencing. I may do this another day. Midlandstoday (talk) 23:46, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Article becoming too brand specific

While it's great that editors want to add information to the article, I would urge caution about adding excessive information regarding one brand of forklift. If the article begins pushing Toyota, Clark or other brands the information may have to be removed. Specific information should probably be added to the pages for the brand in question.Shinerunner (talk) 22:44, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

Not to mention WP:Undue weight. I totally agree. -- œ^™ 20:18, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

Top-pick lift truck for heavy shipping containers

Anyone have information on those really large forklifts that can lift fully loaded shipping containers? I've heard them referred to as "top-picks" because it lifts the container from the top by latching on to the corners of the container using a twistlock, so in a sense they're not really forklifts because they don't use forks but they should still be mentioned in this article. -- œ^™ 05:07, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

It's not mentioned in the Container crane article either.. and it's similar to a Straddle carrier but not quite.. -- œ^™ 05:45, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that the one brand my company sells, Linde, makes that type of lift. I'll see if I can get some information on their version. In my area the straddle carrier seems to be the type used for moving containers at the railyards.Shinerunner (talk) 10:25, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

There are two types of forklift based container handlers, being laden container handlers and empty container handlers. Laden are generally top-pick and empty side-pick. That's the terminology I'm used to here in Australia anyway.

The container handling attachments can either be dedicated (ie permanent) or fork-mounted. In this way, container handlers are still pretty much "big forklifts" but with a specialised attachment. Thepm (talk) 06:15, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

Blanked two requests for information on Forklift Training Certification. Do we have an article on this? If not, we should look at adding one. Note that there are at least three Editors who are using this area (forklifts, industrial electric vehicles, and things like this) to try and spam for their company, so if you do find an article check it carefully to make sure it isn't designed as an advertising page. UrbanTerrorist (talk) 04:50, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Names in the first sentence

The first sentence is wrong. The following are not generic names for forklifts.

• high/low - usually used to describe a powered walk behind low level (6") pallet lifter
• stacker-truck - usually used to describe a powered walk behind pallet lifter
• trailer loader - usually used to describe a powered walk behind pallet lifter with large wheels for use over dock plates
• sideloader - powered side loading fork lift for handling long loads like pipes
• fork hoist - this is a new one - I've never, ever heard it used anywhere in North America
• towmotor - was the name of a company that was purchased by Caterpillar in 1965

Towmotor should probably be added back in under the history section. We need to add a section on types, Sideloader should be included there. A section on nonclementure would probably be an excellent addition as well. Note that I'm in the middle of getting some books together, and may not be around a lot for the next month or so. UrbanTerrorist (talk) 04:21, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Industrial Trucks

Someone started an "Industrial trucks" page. I've setup a redirect to this page. Looking at what they had, there is nothing that isn't already here, but just in case I'm missing something, here is the total text of the page.

I'll leave the text here until October 1, 2011, after which I'll delete it. UrbanTerrorist (talk) 23:17, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

Since there has been no comment, and it's now October 4, 2011, I'm deleting the information. Remember that you can still access it by looking at the page history. UrbanTerrorist (talk) 17:54, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Warning

The editor who was responsible for the Industrial Trucks page was rather upset that I had merged it, and proceeded to split it. I discussed the reason for the split with him or her, and pointed out the ways that the page did not meet Wikipedia standards. Effectively it was an advertisement page with links to a couple of companies. I then re-wrote the page, removing the links to the companies, and wikified it. I discussed the reasons why I re-wrote the page, and why Wikipedia isn't a place for advertisements.

This apparently upset the editor. He or she then blanked the page. Another editor restored it. He or she blanked it a second time with a template requesting immediate deletion stating that only one editor had worked on the page (not true, I had also worked on it) and had no intention of working on it further.

I Reverted the page back to where it redirected to the forklift page. UrbanTerrorist (talk) 14:48, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

Manufacturer's worldwide ranking

The current information that we have here is from 2008, which makes it nearly four years old. I've got the information for 2010 which is marginally newer, and I'm adding it in. If anyone can find the 2011 information, please update the page. If the page isn't kept up to date it will look like a joke. UrbanTerrorist (talk) 17:59, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

OK, everything is added. I used a sortable table, so that you can sort by City, Country, 2008 ranking, 2009 ranking, etc. I also decided to be nasty, and put wiki links in for EVERY manufacturer and their brands. Thought I'd give you guys a little something to do, since it looks like we are missing entries on a lot of this stuff (or possible in some cases I may have typed in the names wrong, in which case could you please correct the wording). I have some paid writing to do, so I'm out of here for the day. UrbanTerrorist (talk) 19:09, 4 October 2011 (UTC)