Forklifts and Marching Penguins

[gridlore]

One thing I forgot to mention during my long examination on Life and My Place In It was today I actually drove something! A Hyster H190HD forklift! Just learning the basic controls, Sergio wanted me and Tony to get a feel for the beast before heading south. Very simple and easy to learn. Fun as Hell to drive. This thing can lift six tons 20 feet into the air. Color me impressed.

I only worked a half day (but got paid for a full one) and most of the morning was spent getting the intineraries for the San Diego trip sorted out. I got my per diem, and all the important adresses and phone numbers.

Today being Friday, that made it date night with Kiri! March of the Penguins was on the list, and before the movie we wandered through Target. Kiri found a few little Burning Man doo-dads, and I found a copy of SimCity 3000 Unlimited on sale for $9.99. Score!

The movie was brilliantly filmed, adorable at some points, tragic at others. It should easily win the Oscar for best long-form documentary next year.

Comments

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I've actually been giving that some thought. The problem with a grav forklift is the uneven loading on the forks. Even considering the removal of the requirement for the forks to raise and lower (the entire vehicle can do that, you'd still be constantly putting a huge mass on one end of the vehicle.

I'd imagine that a "grav forklift" would look more like a S-64 Skycrane (http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/aircraft/jets/sky-crane/info/info.htm) than what we picture a forklift looking like.

Even at high TLs, I think you'd see cargo handling done by crawlers. More cost effective, and a starport is the last place I want dozens of large grav vehicles skimming about.

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

I would agree with Doug on this one, although maybe using grav modules to augment lift capacity might have possibilities... Skycrane does make more sense, you could use grapples on the underside to pick up the load, but for small warehouse jobs and such, a standard gas or battery powered forklift would probably still see a lot of service, especially with new battery technologies

[kengr]

Well, one of the reasons forklifts get used instead of overhead cranes or the like is because they can slide pallets into spaces were very small *overhead* clearances.

BTW, forklifts on the ground have the exact same problem with off center weight. Which is why most are *way* back heavy.