The history of the means of mechanical handling of goods and wooden pallets

Until the early 1920s, industries and businesses did not feel the need for mechanical means and future pallets for moving goods.

The main reason can be attributed to the large availability of labor that characterized the world of work, to which to entrust the handling of products from means of transport and their stacking in warehouses.

Despite this situation in 1917, the American Eugene Clark, who ran a company that produced truck axles, invented the first model of forklift with internal combustion engine , giving the possibility to move heavy goods within companies.

The model consisted of a three-wheeled vehicle, without brakes, with a containment accessory that could carry up to 2 tons of goods.

The development of this new market, however, remained slumbering in the United States for another twenty years, with the construction and sale of new forklifts that did not take off in an equal way. to its great potential, also thanks to the low diffusion of the wooden pallet and the storage systems of goods at height in companies.

Things changed in a very sudden and radical way when the United States entered the Second World War, where war operations were positioned far from the country, forcing the I train to create precise logistics that are impressive in terms of the number of goods shipped, received and stored in the warehouses.

At this point the forklift becomes the fulcrum of military logistics as much as the wooden pallet, as supplies had to be moved, loaded, unloaded and deposited quickly and in a functional way.

Add also the fact that in that period the manpower was scarce, as many men had been sent to the various war fronts and, therefore, this shortage has allowed forklifts and pallets to revolutionize military logistics.

The goods on the pallets were easy to handle, more stable even on long naval journeys and made it possible to reduce storage areas at the front.

Starting in 1941, the US Army and Navy invaded private companies that dealt with motor vehicles, mechanics and wooden packaging with orders, creating not a few problems in finding the raw material to satisfy them.

In fact, some raw materials, such as steel, were intended for the construction of armaments, ground armored vehicles, ships, amphibious landing craft and many other products intended for the offensive phase of operations.

There was then a clash within the army general staff for the management of raw materials, where a part of the interested parties considered forklifts an asset of luxury, compared to weapons and armored vehicles.

In the end the General Staff decided that logistics were as important as offensive equipment, as without supplies no one can wage war.

So starting in 1943 most of the US Army and Navy forklift suppliers were made up of foreign companies, which continuously produced all the means that war required.

With the end of the conflict, the military logistics system influenced the logistics management of private companies, thus allowing the growth of the forklift and pallet handling sector. goods.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.

Photo: Okeypart