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The History of The Fork Lift Truck - Episode 9 - War is over
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 Warehouse & Logistics News is proud to bring you the ninth instalment in our exclusive series on the history of the forklift truck, which over the decades has revolutionised the face of materials handling around the world.
Our writer is James Brindley, an acknowledged authority on forklift trucks. James's distinguished career has involved engineering and management roles with BT Rolatruc and serving as a Director of the Fork Lift Truck Association, before he set up the National Fork Truck Heritage Centre in 2004 as Britain's first such collection open to the public.
The Heritage Centre continues to need your support, and if you or your company would like to help in any way, you can contact James on the number below. Now sit back and enjoy the latest part of this fascinating series.
By James Brindley, Director, National Fork Truck Heritage Centre
Whichever way you look at it, the war years gave the materials handling industry plenty of opportunity to demonstrate the forklift truck's real value. The palletising of cargo made it possible to achieve fast turn round times, whether loading or unloading from ships, lorries or railway vans. Consequently many millions of man-hours were saved, and palletisation became one of the most important developments to influence the outcome of the war.
British industry could also appreciate the value to business of being able to handle goods more economically and efficiently. So much so, in fact, that now the war was finished, there was a great demand for forklift trucks in general. This demand also coincided with a shortage of manpower, as the troops were not yet demobbed and there was a need to start rebuilding the nation as soon as possible.
The Americans saw the marketing opportunity first, and during 1945 the Clark Company took steps to appoint dealerships within Europe. An agreement was also signed between the Baker Raulang Company of Cleveland USA and Lansing Bagnall, making them sole concessionaires for the sale of their trucks throughout the UK. This resulted in many Clark and Baker forklift trucks coming to Britain and taking up the much needed demand shortfall.
Early in 1946 there were growing signs of recovery among British manufacturers as no fewer than four new companies entered the materials handling field. They all produced a prototype ride-on counterbalance forklift truck by the year's end.
Electro Hydraulics (Messier) Ltd, who made electro/hydraulics for the landing gear on aircraft, produced one of the earliest such trucks. In June 1946 the company announced that its first model was in production, and would be available for sale later on in the year. Known as the "Conveyancer Mk1," this truck was fitted with a petrol/electric drive thus eliminating clutch and gearbox and had a lifting capacity of 2 tons. Its power source was a "Standard" engine, produced by the Coventry Climax Company and used "BKB" electrics.
About the same time, Coventry Climax launched the prototype "ET 199." This machine also featured the "Standard" Coventry Climax engine. Its technical description was a four-cylinder, side valve, petrol engine type "ZQ," with magneto ignition. The truck transmission was a conventional dry clutch plate connected to a two-speed gearbox, and the steering was the forerunner of the "Orbitrol" hydraulic system that was used for many subsequent years.
After a series of performance tests it was decided that on completion of further redesigning and modification work, it should be considered for manufacture. As a consequence the first generation of the company's new trucks, which were now known as the FTD model, entered production at the end of the year. Among the changes was an alteration to the position of the radiator, which was moved to the left-hand side of the truck along side the engine. The starter battery location, which had now been taken by the radiator, was in two boxes, one on each side of the truck and to the rear of the driver's seat. The rear arch weight grill was replaced with a solid steel cover, as moving the radiator from its conventional position at the front of the engine made the need for a cooling grill unnecessary.
To be continued
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