Pallet Trucks

A pallet truck (also known as a pump truck or pallet jack) is a wheeled trolley designed to lift and transport pallets. The truck’s tapered forks slot underneath the pallet and the pump handle can then be used to raise and lower the load.

A manual pallet jack is a hand-powered jack most commonly seen in retail and personal warehousing operations. They are used predominantly for lifting, lowering and steering pallets from one place to another.

Description

The jack is steered by a ’tiller’ like a lever that also acts as the pump handle for raising the jack. A small handle on the tiller releases the hydraulic fluid, causing the forks to lower. The front wheels inside the end of the forks are mounted on levers attached to linkages that go to levers attached to the jack cylinder.

As the hydraulic jack at the ’tiller’ end is raised, the links force the wheels down, raising the forks vertically above the front wheels, raising the load upward until it clears the floor. The pallet is only lifted enough to clear the floor for subsequent travel.

Oftentimes, pallet jacks are used to move and organise pallets inside a trailer, especially when there is no forklift truck access or availability.