A telehandler or a telescopic handler is a machinery that is well-known in the construction and agriculture businesses. These machinery are similar in function and appearance to a lift truck or a forklift but are really more like a crane instead of a forklift. The telehandler provides improved versatility of a single telescopic boom that could extend forwards and upwards from the vehicle. The operator could connect many attachments on the boom's end. Several of the most popular attachments include: a muck grab, a bucket, pallet forks or a lift table.
To be able to transport cargo through locations which are normally unreachable for a conventional forklift. The telehandler uses pallet forks as their most common attachment. For instance, telehandlers can transport cargo to and from places that are not typically accessible by regular forklift models. These devices also have the ability to remove palletized loads from inside a trailer and place these loads in high places, such as on rooftops for instance. Previously, this situation mentioned above would need a crane. Cranes could be pricey to use and not always a time-efficient or practical alternative.
Telehandler's are unique in that their advantage is also their largest drawback: because the boom raises or extends when the machine is bearing a load, it also acts as a lever and causes the vehicle to become quite unstable, even with the counterweights on the back. This translates to the lifting capacity decreasing fast as the working radius increases. The working radius is the distance between the center of the load and the front of the wheels.
Like for example, a vehicle which has a 5000 pound capacity with the boom retracted may be able to safely lift only as much as 400 lb. once it is fully extended with a low boom angle. The same model with a 5000 lb. lift capacity that has the boom retracted might be able to easily support as much as 10,000 lb. with the boom raised up to 70.
The Matbro Company in Horley, Surrey, England initially pioneered telehandlers. These equipment were developed from their articulated cross country forestry forklifts. Initially, they had a centrally mounted boom design on the front section. This placed the cab of the driver on the back portion of the machine, like in the Teleram 40 model. The rigid chassis design with a rear mounted boom and the cab situated on the side has since become more popular.