Telescopic handlers are a bit like forklifts. It possesses one telescopic boom that extends upwards and forwards from the truck, and a counterweight in the rear. It works much more like a crane than a forklift. The boom could be equipped with a variety of attachments. The most common attachment is pallet forks, but the operator could also attach a lift table, bucket or muck grab. Also referred to as a telehandler, this particular type of machinery is normally used in agriculture and industry.
A telehandler is commonly used to transport loads to and from places which will be hard for a standard forklift to access. Telehandlers are usually utilized to unload pallets from inside a trailer. They are also more practical compared to a crane for lifting loads onto rooftops and other high locations.
The telehandler has one major limitation. Even with rear counterweights, the weight-bearing boom can cause the equipment to destabilize as it extends. Thus, the lifting capacity decreases when the distance between the front of the wheels and the centre of the load increases.
The Matbro company developed telehandlers in England. Their design was based on articulated cross country forklifts utilized in forestry. Initial versions consisted of a centrally mounted boom on the front and a driver's cab on the back section, but these days the most common design has a rigid chassis with a side cab and rear mounted boom.