There really are some wonderful old forklift advertisements out there: black-and-white depictions of dutiful workers, beavering away on the historic forklifts that have shaped our industry.
We decided to feature a couple of these adverts in our recent forklift challenge. We asked you to guess the manufacturer of the forklifts showcased in two historic print advertisements from our gallery archives.
We are impressed at the number of you who guessed correctly!
Here are the advertisements in full:
| Forklift A: It's a Towmotor! |
 Click for larger view |
|
| Forklift B: It's a Hyster! |
 Click for larger view |
|
We were lucky to receive this wonderful response from reader Tim, forklift enthusiast and now retired from Hyster Europe:
FORKLIFT B is a Hyster Willamette Hyster Company 'Handy Andy' manufactured from 1941 to 1943 with four capacities, 3,000 4,000, 5,000 and 6,000 lb
Some detail:- The engine was a Hercules IXB-3 side valve.
- The transmission had four speeds forward and four speed reverse.
Quote from the Instruction Book:
"It is not necessary to begin with the low gear. With the left foot press either the left or right pedal, depending on whether you wish to go forward or backward.
Hold the pedal down until you wish to stop and then release it and use brake with right foot as you would in a car"
- There was no hoist cylinder. The carriage was raised by a roller chains that passed over sprockets at the top of the mast. The sprockets were driven by a hydraulic motor at the top of the mast that was supplied by a hydraulic pump.....Perfect forward view!
- The mast was tilted by a single hydraulic cylinder connected to a cross shaft by a crank. The shaft had cranks at each end which were connected to the outer mast
channels.
An innovative design for its era. Masts without a hoist cylinder did not form part of any subsequent Hyster design.
Thanks Tim, one of the great perks of these challenges is getting to know our Forkliftaction readers a little better and enjoying the wealth of your experience.
Unfortunately we don't have details for the Towmotor forklift model, but if you think you have some more information about the forklift depicted
feel free to share it with us!
Got an idea for a fun Forklift challenge to play with Forkliftaction readers, we'd love to hear it: email
KTM@forkliftaction.com.