Side Carry Attachment For Forklifts

Side Carry Attachment For Forklifts MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Forklifts 24-3-37 "My side attachment for forklifts carries loads only a couple of inches off the floor so there's far less chance of accidentally hitting something and dumping the load. It also gets long stuff through narrow aisles and doorways," says Ray McPherson, So. Milwaukee, Wis. The add-on unit consists of a steel frame that fits over the forks with a pair of curved steel arms on one side. Each arm is hinged to the frame by a steel pin and has a small wheel at the end. To load up the driver pulls parallel to a load, which must be up on blocks. He lowers the forks so the wheels on the curved arms start rolling under the load. He continues to lower the forks until the bottom part of the arms is under the load. The hinged end hits the latches and drops into the notches, locking it in place. He's now ready to lift the load and move to another area. To unload, he lowers the forks until the load rests on blocks. He then manually flips the latches away from the notches. Then he raises the forks until the arms are clear of the load. "The attachment weighs only 130 lbs. but can carry a load weighing well over a ton," says McPherson. "We've used it in our machine shop on a Clark 3,000-lb. capacity industrial forklift for two years with no problems. Farmers could use it to haul everything from steel tubing to irrigation pipe, etc. I built it after I saw our shop's forklift driver trying to maneuver a load of pipes through an aisle that was too narrow for the load. He hit a small bump which caused the entire load to fall off. Fortunately no one was injured. I thought there had to be an easier and safer way to move heavy loads." McPherson is looking for a manufacturer. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ray McPherson, 1220 Milwaukee Ave., So. Milwaukee, Wis. 53172 (ph 414 764-2405).

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