The first "mass" use of counterbalanceed forklfits for material handling was after WWII when the Towmotor lifts were brought back by the military from Europe and unloaded on the east coast ports- priamrily in the harbors of NY. No one knew what to do with them, then someone came up with the idea to start using them on the docks to move cargo. Hence, the name Towmotor was given to any lift truck after that. In the Chicago area it is not uncommon to here a lift truck called a Jeep - why I can't ro explain and in the NW the name Hyster lable is often applied to any lift, other nicknames i've encountered are chisels, hi-lo s. Most of these names are recalled by folks that have a lot of gray in what hair they might have left. I prerred to be called "more experience" than those that have lesser time on this this planet.
How do I know this, I worked for Allis-Chalmer, started in '67 and they (the Buda company at that time) hired an engineer (name I cannot recall) from The Towmotor Corporation to help them design & build a lift truck in 1952. This is the main reason the A-C and Towmotor brands had the common features of a "butt ugly design", universal joint between the trans & drive axle & the "infamous" "bull gear jack shaft" final drive axle that kept service people busy swabbing molybedum grease on the ring gear teeth or simply replacing them and those roll pins.