A fork-lift truck is employed for stacking, unstacking, and transporting goods. The goods being moved are placed on wooden platforms called pallets. The vehicle's forks can then slide into the pallet's slots. A huge weight is usually found at the rear of the fork-lift truck to counterbalance the load at the front.
The fork-lift truck can be powered in many ways. Some are fuelled by low-pressured gases or diesel, however, usually you will find that these types of vehicle are driven by electric motors.
The same method used to power the truck is also utilised to power the hydraulic mechanism that assists in the raising and lowering of the forks. When the machine is in transit the forks sometimes tilt backwards to increase the safety of the load. Many fork-lift trucks have telescopic masts which can extend vertically allowing the forks to stack products up to 5 metres high.
The capacity for carrying can vary considerably in fork-lift trucks, from 5 tonnes for small fork lifts to 50 tonnes for heavy duty models.
