Thanks for pointing this out. It seems that CombiLift's claim is a bit inaccurate. I have cheked with an industry expert in Japan who has an encyclopedic knowledge of products and he points out that the articulated steering system was invented by the Mathew Brothers (Matbro).
His comments are as follows:
"This Matbro company went bankrupt and the Matbro brand is now owned by Terex. Matbro invented 'Swinglift', mast is rotateable for 90deg and long loads could be accessed from front then lifted to the chassis height and the mast rotated 90deg
so that the long load is placed on the chassis for easier transportation.
"NarrowAisle, Bendi of UK and AisleMaster of Ireland are the popular articulated forklift OEMs. Their products
can be utilised in warehouse application as well as outside the warehouse. The size of their wheels is much
larger than the other type of VNA (three directional forklift). This is their main and only feature.
"I could not find any back up evidence, but Towmotor/Caterpillar once made the articulated-type forklift in 60s. US Baker before being acquirred by Otis, also had such model in their product range."
So, let's see what Mr McVicar says about that!