Warehouse forklifts are propane powered usually. So little emissions.

Oh goody! Another feelgood solution for a nonexistant problem. If I need to move 30kg, I'd be tempted to do something insanely radical like, you know, bend down & pick it up.

This would lead to a leaner workforce, literally! When's the last time you saw a forklift driver that wasn't big as a planet? Plus I was once nearly killed by one on a summer job.

It's more of a "fun thing" than actual useful product, but I dig it :)

Plus this gives you a better work-out on the job! :)

This is old news. I've been using a Genie Lift(made in the USA) for years........... You geeks need to get out from behind a PC and do some real work........

JiltedCitizen:

The common misconception with propane or any other clean burning fossil fuel is that they burn cleaner, so they are ok to consume. What people forget about is the extraction, processing and transportation (in major cities much is done underground, which is better). Dependance upon any non-renewable resource is poor planning for the future.

The warehouse I work in uses electric forklifts. It seems kind of silly as it holds a pretty lame 30 kg.

I agree with Iain. This machine is a waste of human ingenuity. That hand crank makes it look like it would be more difficult to crank up the fork than to pick up and move the "30 kilo" object manually. 30 kilos is less than your average bag of concrete

This is an ideal invention for unloading semi trailers which happen to be loaded exclusively with bags of puffed-wheat cereal, and you're not in a big hurry to get the job done. Ingenious!

It's a good idea for companies that may want to go totally green, but obviously it has it's limitations. Maybe a better solution would be to power one by the use of solar cells.

Looks like an interesting idea, however most forklift trucks run on either electric, butane or diesel.

I would have thought that butane is pretty clean, as for the others one could be modified to run on biodiesel and the other converted to use solar power.

Are you sure it's only 30kg? That seems awfully low, given the size of the machine.

If anyone is interested in a slightly more practical version please look at http://www.genie-lift.com

As a logistics integrator I have seen these in use at a lot of warehouses. Not to be green but just to save money and space (a propane or electric forklift is large and expensive to operate).

Also note that several of these lifts are geared, not towards warehouse work, to allow maintenance workers and installers to work more safely creating a better work environment.

The forklift on the left could only lift about the weight of the operator without tipping over. The one on the right is a much better design. Based on the chunky design, I think the 30kg capacity claim is a typo. I would say more like 100kg-200kg.

I been using human-powered forklifts my whole professionell life, 20 years. The forklift pictured in the article and the lifts at genie-lift.com seem complicated and outright stupid. Lifts powered with a hand crank is hard to operate, very slow and give you repetitive strain injuries. A better choice is a fork lift with a long heave.

Here is a fork lift that looks useful. Similar models are made by many manufacturers. The handle is used both for steering and elevating.

With a good lift (not the one in my picture, it only manage 800 kg), you can elevate a metric ton 1.5 meters within 2 minutes , without breaking a sweat.

As a sidenote: In Sweden we use electric fork lifts in warehouses. Battery life is a source of problem but using propane would mean that we couldn't isolate the warehouses properly.

The translation software got it wrong.

It's the driver's weight plus an additional 30 kg

I could see how this could be useful for small operations. Places like schools for example.
I really like the concept.