CRANE CRITIQUE
CONSTRUCTION NEWS BULLETIN
ROTATING TELEHANDLERS
Walks like a crane, talks like a crane, must be a crane
A monthly crane and rigging informative column for all personnel directly or indirectly involved with crane safety. Each month we will attempt to explain a different technical issue pertaining to crane operations here on Guam, addressing the sometimes over-looked or misunderstood topics by management and operators alike. By Dave Barnhouse
From farmyards to construction sites, the telehandler is today perhaps the single most utilized piece of industrial machinery, prized for its great versatility. The product began as a rough terrain forklift, with a lifting mast mounted on the back end of a farm tr¬actor. Marcel Braud, the founder of Manitou in France, is credited with coming up with the idea in 1957. Whereas standard telehandlers can only lift and extend, rotating telehandlers combine both crane and forklift functions in one compact machine, with the ability to pick up and deposit loads within a 360-degree circle making them one of the most versatile machines on site. Telescopic booms with forward and upward reach in due course replaced the vertical lift mast, and the telescopic handler we know today emerged. With forks they can lift and move pallets of building material or other bulk loads. With buckets they can handle material such as dirt or aggregate. With hooks and winches, they can lift loads. Over time, all kinds of specialist attachments have emerged for specific tasks: personnel baskets, concrete skips, sorting grapples, clamps, tire handlers, sweepers and cleaners. Sales of telehandlers are split roughly 50:50 between agriculture and construction, 26 | FEBRUARY2017
since they are equally useful in both environments. It is claimed that it was Pietro Magni who designed and made the first telescopic fork lift in Europe, the Fargh 4000 FS, in 1980. He died a year later in a workplace accident, leaving his son Riccardo Magni to continue his legacy. Riccardo Magni developed the Fargh 5000 RT and 3000 RT from his father’s first prototype. These models formed the basis of an Italian joint venture with Manitou that lasted 27 years until May 2009. Traditional telehandlers turn by steering the wheels, just like a car or a tractor. However, in 1991 Merlo introduced the Roto 25.11 XS, the first telescopic handler with slewing boom. While the traditional telehandler had been more like an adapted tractor, the Roto was more like a hybrid rough terrain crane. It was the first telehandler to allow operators the possibility of reaching any point in the full 360° range, without having to re-position the machine. The fully rotating telehandler remains www.guamcontractors.org
something of an Italian specialty. Merlo has 14 Roto models from 10 to 31 meters lifting height. Dieci has eight models in its Roto Construction family, from the Pegasus 38.16 to the Pegasus 70.11. Terex Genie has three GTH-R rotating models from 15.4 to 20.9 meters lifting heights. Genie’s largest model is the GTH 5021-R. Manitou, of France, also has nine MRT rotating Like Us On Facebook