We had come across an old grain bag lifter at Holybourne in Hampshire which we think could have played a part in the development of the forklift.
The History of the forklift
Handling advantages once distributed among many different types of equipment are now combined in the modern fork truck, but it has taken years of development and research.
The first contribution towards scientific materials handling equipment (over a hundred years ago) appears to have been the two-wheel hand truck, which is useful as ever on many types of jobs. The early models were built by local manufacturers with unmachined, wrought iron axles and cast iron wheels.
They enable loads to be picked up and transported without being lifted manually, and probably represented the earliest application of the cantilever principle to materials handling equipment.
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