The telescopic handler or just telehandler is a heavy duty equipment which is popular in both the construction and agriculture industries. These machines 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 which could extend upwards and forwards from the vehicle. The operator could attach many attachments on the boom's end. Some of the most popular attachments include: a bucket, a muck grab, a lift table or pallet forks.
To be able to move cargo through locations which are usually unreachable for a standard forklift. The telehandler utilizes pallet forks as their most common attachment. Like for instance, telehandlers can transport cargo to and from areas that are not usually reachable by regular forklift units. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized loads from within a trailer and place these loads in high places, such as on rooftops for example. Previously, this situation mentioned above would need a crane. Cranes can be very expensive to use and not always a practical or time-efficient choice.
One more advantage is also the telehandlers largest drawback: as 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, despite the rear counterweights. This translates to the lifting capacity decreasing fast 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 lb. capacity with the boom retracted might be able to safely raise only as much as 400 pounds when it is fully extended with a low boom angle. The same unit with a 5000 pound 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.
England first pioneered the telehandler in Horley, Surrey. The Matbro Company developed these machinery 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 machine, like in the Teleram 40 model. The rigid chassis design with a rear mounted boom and the cab located on the side has since become more famous.