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Warehouse & Logistics News is proud to bring you the latest instalment in an exclusive series on the history of the forklift truck, which over the decades has revolutionised the face of materials handling around the world.
The writer is James Brindley, an acknowledged authority on forklift trucks. In James's distinguished career he has worked in engineering and management roles with BT Rolatruc and served as a Director of the Fork Lift Truck Association, before setting up the National Fork Truck Heritage Centre in 2004.
You will be hearing a lot more from James and the Heritage Centre in these pages, as we will be telling you just why the Heritage Centre needs your support. Now sit back and enjoy the latest part of this fascinating series.
The History of The Fork Lift Truck
By James Brindley, Director, National Fork Truck Heritage Centre
US companiesÕ adoption of automated materials handling was growing all the time from the date of the first forklift truck up to the beginning of the 1930s. This followed the utilisation of the unit load and the countryÕs steady industrial output. In contrast BritainÕs interest in automated handling, during the same period, had hardly progressed at all and this was the situation even after the initial upturn in handling techniques and production shortly after the First World War. Although industrial output following this period did give an initial boost to the UK economy it soon settled into a series of economic slumps culminating in serious industrial strike action.
Following the general strike of 1926, UK investment in automated handling came almost to a standstill as companies fought to recover their market positions. Investment in any sort of handling machinery was not at the top of their lists, and who could blame them? These were hardly the right conditions for industry to buy new machinery, especially when labour was relatively plentiful and cheap.
In the rare circumstances where handling equipment was purchased, it was not bought to bring about a radical reduction in the work force but conversely to work with the labour force in better utilisation of storage areas and faster loading of vehicles.
For example, the basic tiering truck was mainly used to transfer loads up to, or down to, waiting manual labour and the platform truck, whilst still employed for the longer horizontal routes, was still loaded and unloaded by hand. This is probably the reason why so many British manufacturers of handling equipment limited their designs to this type of equipment, and was the main production for companies with names such as Douglas, Slingsby, Greenwood and Batley (Greenbat) and British Electric Vehicles (BEV), to name a few.
Whilst the technology of materials handling equipment in Britain remained fairly static, the companies in America were looking to the future and starting their most innovative period to date.
The Towmotor Corporation led the way in 1933 with its model "L," the first 'sit on' counterbalance forklift truck to bring together such features as hydraulic lift and tilt under the power of a petrol-fuelled internal combustion engine. It was the creation of Lester M Sears, who founded the corporation in 1919 with push and pull tractors.
This was followed in 1935 by the first forklift truck from the Hyster Corporation. Known as the model "BT," it had a three-wheel configuration and a screw tilt and was capable of lifting a 6000lb load. The company produced a ÒforkliftÓ for the logging industry earlier, but to all intents and purposes this was a utility carrier that straddled the load and used a clamp mechanism to lift. The fork unit was an optional attachment that fitted to its front end.
During this time the Lansing Company in America ceased trading and the founder F.E.Bagnall secured the right to manufacture the equipment, from their truck designs, for the UK. As many can still remember, he was one of the partners who was later to give his name to the company that was to become a household name, and the largest British manufacturer of materials handling equipment. As Bagnall had no workshops of his own the manufacturing element of battery-operated towing tractors and platform trucks at this time was carried out by Thomas Allen Ltd of Stanford le-Hope, Essex.
To be continued
If you would like to support the National Fork Truck Heritage Centre, call James Brindley on 0780 195 4167
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