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 like the Occupational Health and Safety Administration or OSHA and also needs operator training in order to be conducted safely.
Internal combustion forklifts are easier and faster 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 ITA's Class 2 trucks include a large variety of electric lift trucks and these are specially made to be utilized in narrow aisles. The standard storage aisles are 12 feet wide, and this easily allows a counterbalanced lift truck to turn in the aisle and put a load away. Normally, narrow aisles are 8 feet wide, while the very narrow aisles are about 5.5 to 6 feet wide. These narrow aisles require specialized lift trucks which are capable of putting away loads without any turning at all or which are small enough to turn on a tight radius.
The three most common narrow aisle forklifts are the order pickers, reach trucks and turret trucks. The differences between these lift trucks are discussed below.
Narrow-Aisle Reach Trucks
The original narrow-aisle lift truck is considered to be the conventional reach truck. These machines do not need a large counterweight and are therefore, small enough to turn in narrow aisles. Instead, stability is provided by the outrigger arms which extend in front of the lift trucks. Nonetheless, depending on the storage configuration, these outrigger arms can prevent the trucks from getting close enough to the storage rack to retrieve and deposit loads. To be able to overcome this situation, a pantograph was designed. The pantograph is actually a reach truck that is designed with a telescoping device. This allows forks to easily and concisely reach into storage areas.
The best environment for narrow aisle forklifts is a place which has clean floors, good lighting and well maintained floor, good traffic flow, along with sufficient turning space.
These machines have revolutionized the material handling business. Toyota stands behind their commitment to giving exceptional quality and extremely strong machinery. As the business evolves, they continually strive to apply solutions so as to offer their diverse client base with the best available products.