Propane cylinders take up little space and they can be kept either inside of a storage area or outside of a facility. It does take some time to switch out a propane cylinder, although, it still does require knowledge of safety standards such as the OSHA or Occupational Health and Safety Administration and also needs operator training in order to be conducted safely.
IC trucks are faster and easier to refuel, than electric lift trucks, but the internal combustion or IC engines produce major air-polluting emissions and are very noisy.
NARROW-AISLE FORKLIFTS
The Class 2 forklifts consists of many varieties of lift truck that are specially designed to be used in narrow aisles. The regular storage aisles are 12 feet wide, and this easily enables a counterbalanced forklift to turn in the aisle and put a load away. Normally, narrow aisles are 8 feet wide, while the very narrow aisles are approximately 5.5 to 6 feet wide. These narrow aisles require specialized forklifts which are capable of putting away loads without any turning at all or that are small enough to turn on a tight radius.
Order pickers, reach trucks and turret trucks are 3 of the most common narrow-aisle forklifts. The differences amongst these trucks are discussed below.
Narrow-Aisle Reach Trucks
The traditional reach truck is the original narrow-aisle forklift and these machinery do not require a counterweight. They are also small enough to turn around in narrow aisles. Instead, stability is provided by the outrigger arms that extend in front of the trucks. Then again, these outrigger arms could prevent the trucks from getting close enough to the storage rack to retrieve and deposit loads, depending on the storage configuration. In order to overcome this particular situation, a pantograph was designed. The pantograph is a reach truck which is designed with a telescoping device. This enables forks to easily and concisely reach into storage areas.
The best environment for narrow aisle lift trucks is a place that has good lighting, clean floors and well maintained floor, good traffic flow, as well as sufficient turning space.
These machinery have revolutionized the material handling industry. Toyota stands behind their commitment to providing exceptional quality and really strong machinery. As the company changes, they continually strive to apply solutions in order to give their diverse customer base with the best available products.