Generation X
March 1st 2005

After attending a spectacular launch, Ian Clay believes Linde Materials Handling’s new X range reach trucks genuinely break new ground

The fundamental design elements of the conventional moving mast reach truck have not changed in over 40 years. Now though, with an emphasis on safety and productivity, Linde’s new X range has formulated new rules. Linde design engineers, under the direction of Paul J Eckersley, director of design/development, have turned reach truck design on its head by relocating the primary restricting factor in the operator’s compartment – the battery.

On the Linde X range the battery is located under the operator’s compartment and no longer restricts space in the cabin area. This results in a spacious operator compartment with a newly designed ergonomic layout. In the words of Mark Sullivan, product support and international product manager, the battery relocation “virtually doubles the space in the operator compartment”, and this has been achieved without increasing the chassis length.

While Sullivan refutes the notion of a muscoskeletal/RSI ‘time bomb’ that may lurk in the future, Paul Eckersley did admit to feeling a “moral obligation” to forklift operators in order to make them as comfortable and safe as possible.

This obligation is seen in the fitment of a wide, comfortable seat – referred to by Mark Sullivan as a “business class” seat – with full suspension and two adjustable armrests.

The design has a range of adjustments including variable lumbar support and seat height selections to enable operators of any size or gender to find the right working posture. The left armrest has an integrated, compact steering wheel while fingertip control joysticks are integrated into the right armrest. There is a swivelling seat option.

Further to its size, the seat has also been moved closer to the mast and fork carriage, which in itself might not normally give any particular advantage. But, because of the novel design of the mast, its frame uprights provide the operator with a wide visibility window – almost twice as wide as found on a conventional reach truck. This view engenders the operator with confidence, enhancing safety and productivity, according to Linde. As Paul Eckersley says, the wide window gives “total visibility, with no hoses and no chains”.

The forward positioning of the seat within the larger cabin means that the operator is always safely within the profile of the chassis when working. Having tested the new trucks, I can confirm that compared to a conventional reach truck, the operator does feel more ‘in tune’ with the machine, as opposed to perching on the back with shoulders and legs protruding outside the chassis.

Although operator comfort is greatly improved, Linde has not designed the X range for the enhancement of the human race: there are business factors at the design’s core. Amongst these is the other significant departure from conventional design in that the ultra-wide mast is permanently fixed to the chassis and does not reach backwards and forwards. Instead, a new traversing fork carriage provides this movement. The mast sits permanently in what is normally described as the ‘reached back’ position. This fixed mast location, combined with the traversing fork carriage, has a short traverse distance, that Linde says brings major productivity and stability benefits. The weight of the fixed mast has a ballasting effect that, combined with the low slung battery (giving a low centre of gravity), produces stability when travelling, manoeuvring and stacking.

Also, because the mass of the mast no longer moves backwards and forwards, load oscillation is minimal during the storage retrieval sequences. Linde are claiming that mast deflection is reduced by 50% – and that the productivity benefits gained by operators not waiting for ‘load swaying’ to subside is marked. Added to this is the fact that the mass of the fork carriage is much lighter and only has to traverse 170mm in either direction, compared with the typical 500mm in each direction of a moving mast reach truck. Allied with the short travel, this results in quicker cycle times with less energy used per work cycle.

Load placement onto the racking beams is also consistently precise with such a stable mast and chassis platform. All of these factors, Linde calculates, result in a 15% productivity improvement over conventional trucks. The company believes that this improvement will be shown in between 40 and 60% of applications – particularly so in more intensive operations. Linde says that, for a small cost differential, the payback will come very quickly.

With its innovative design there were some initial concerns regarding battery maintenance, charging and changing.

Battery checking is easily done through a battery access panel on the side of the truck where an operative can quickly check the water level and charge the battery. Presently, battery changing is carried out with a pallet truck – but there will be an automatic battery changer available. In terms of features, the new machine offers all one expects to see: the Linde digital controller for efficient energy transfer from the battery to the traction, lift and steering motors; rheological electric steering for greater operator feel; 180 or 360° steering; single or twin accelerator pedals; single or dual function fingertip control levers and automatic or manual fork tilt. The range is available in capacities from 1.4 to 1.7t with the top rated machine able to lift 1250kg to 11.5m.

In an industry seemingly too reliant on rebadging and ‘me too’ products, it is with great delight that we welcome genuine innovation. The radical design of the Linde X range deserves the praise it will undoubtedly receive from both press and users alike – as well as its Porsche-finished styling and comfortable interior it really does offer substance to back up its style. And though he’s unlikely to say otherwise, Mark Sullivan says the key message is that, “in performance terms the Linde X range is the most productive truck on the market today”.

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