A telescopic handler or telehandler is a machinery that is well-known within the agriculture and construction businesses. These machinery are similar in function and appearance to a lift truck or a forklift but are actually more similar to a crane instead of a forklift. The telehandler offers improved versatility of a single telescopic boom that can extend forwards as well as upwards from the vehicle. The operator could attach numerous attachments on the end of the boom. Some of the most popular attachments include: a muck grab, a bucket, a lift table or pallet forks.
To be able to transport cargo through places that are normally unreachable for a conventional forklift. The telehandler utilizes pallet forks as their most popular attachment. For example, telehandlers could move cargo to and from places which are not typically reachable by conventional forklift units. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized cargo from within a trailer and place these loads in high locations, such as on rooftops for instance. Before, this aforementioned situation will require a crane. Cranes could be expensive to utilize and not always a practical or time-efficient option.
Telehandler's are unique in that their advantage is also their biggest limitation: because the boom extends or raises when the machine is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become quite 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 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 lift only as heavy as 400 lb. when it is completely extended with a low boom angle. The same model with a 5000 pound lift capacity which has the boom retracted may be able to easily support as much as 10,000 lb. with the boom raised up to 70.
England initially pioneered the telehandler within Horley, Surrey. The Matbro Company developed these machines from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. At first, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front section. This placed the cab of the driver on the machine's back portion, as 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 and more famous.