Person-powered forklift
19th June, 2007 by stuart
You don’t need petrol or even electricity to move large items anymore. Simply get yourself a human-powered forklift instead. Providing you’ve had a good hearty breakfast, you’ll be able to shift up to 30kg in no time. The forklift is ridden just like a bicycle, while a winch is used to lift objects of your choosing. You can even drive backwards by cycling in reverse. Made by Soceadth, the emissions-free, environmentally friendly Cycle Forklift (CF-100KG) costs 199,500 yen (£814/$1615).
Source: Nikkei
June 20th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
I like the look of it but would a heavy load on the left one cause it to tip over if the driver got off unexpectedly? It could be that the weight is distributed better that it looks to me. When I worked in retail, I always wished there was a safer method of getting heavy things up and down from high shelves than trying to muscle them up a stepladder.
June 22nd, 2007 at 6:34 am
Totemo Yoi
I love this. There are so many amazing people-powered machines now. Bicycle powered washing machines, bicycle powered movies, and bike moves (as in moving furniture).
Thank you for sharing this.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:12 am
This news article has it wrong, it’s not 30kg lifting capacity, its the weight of the driver + 30kg. Silly webbased software translators
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:18 am
From the source: “The forklift has a load capacity of 30kg besides the operator’s weight.”
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Looks to me like the 30kg + operator would only apply to the machine on the left. And it would also depend somewhat on where the load was placed on the fork. The lift on the right has wheels far forward (making it difficult to get under a skid, or a couch) and so there is no fulcrum, the weight would be limited by the wench capacity and the integrity of the construction.
Using your legs instead of your arms to crank the wench would help.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Actually, this ain’t all that new of a thing. In my days as a truck driver and warehouseman, I used a hydraulic hand truck like this one all the time.
http://www.h-lift.com/pallettruck.htm