TELEHANDLERS
T
hey’re big, they’re powerful and they turn
on a dime. No, we are not talking about
Olympic figure skaters. We’re talking about
rotating telehandlers.
Long the workhorse in cramped Eurpean
quarters, rotating telehandlers have been around
for more than 20 years, but they’re still in their
infancy in the United States and other parts of
North America.
The three main players in the U.S. and Canada
are Dieci, Manitou and Merlo, with Manitou
being the first manufacturer to bring the
technology from Europe to the States in the early
2000s. With 14 years under their belts, rotating
telehandlers have gained some attention.
“They’re construction machines,” says
Andy Gray, territory sales manager for Applied
Machinery Sales (AMS). AMS is the U.S.
distributor for Italian-built Merlo telescopic
handlers. “Applications are becoming more
diverse as people realize the versatility of these
machines, but that said, the two largest users of
rotating telehandlers are probably masons and
industrial contractors.”
Merlo manufactures 90 percent
of its components with more than
100 engineers, according to the
company. The end product is a
versatile, advantageous piece of
equipment, Gray says.
“With a rotating telehandler,
you have a couple of distinct
advantages over a normal
telehandler,” Gray says. “It has
the same capacities and runs
similarly, but on almost all rotating
telehandlers, you have a longer
stick and you can work in close
quarters.”
Rotating telehandlers are
designed differently from their
straight-facing counterparts. With
two distinctly diverse sections
– the upper section boom and
operator’s cab and lower section’s
engine, chassis, outriggers, fuel
and other mechanisms – a rotating
telehandler is joined ‘at the waist’
on a turret that allows the machine
to rotate an unlimited 360 degrees.
Rotating teles typically have
outriggers in front and back to
Rotating telehandlers are making headway in North America.
Lindsey Anderson
reports on the latest from Dieci, Manitou and
Merlo and how these units can work for the bottom line.
Merlo entered the U.S.
and Canadian markets
through its two
distributors, Canada-
based Manulift and
U.S.-based Applied
Machinery Sales.
One of Manulift’s many
Merlo telehandlers.
16
ACCESS, LIFT & HANDLERS
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014
Money-
spinning
An operator places materials
remotely with a Manitou MRT 1840.
