At the beginning of 1958, the responsible engineer Gao Jilin led technicians and experienced skilled workers to go to Dalian Port many times to inspect and map the 5-ton gasoline mechanical drive forklifts of 4003 type which purchased from the former Soviet Union.
The surveying and mapping work proceeded very smoothly, but due to the domestic supporting capabilities at that time, it could not be put into production of manufacturing completely according to the surveying and mapping drawings. The secondary development design must be carried out on the basis of the Soviet prototype based on the actual domestic supporting situation.
At that time, Jiefang Automobile’s gasoline engine, gearbox, drive axle, wheels, steering column and other parts were used, but the particularity of forklift operating conditions determined that the gearbox could not be directly replaced by an automobile gearbox. In order to meet the requirements of frequent reverse gear shifting during forklift operations, a temporary design was devised. A shift gearbox was designed and installed after the Jiefang Automobile gearbox. This seems to be an unreasonable design, but it had a practical effect at that time.
After the first forklift was successfully manufactured, it was named W-5 “Satellite” universal machine, and later it was finalized as 5CQ-I type 5 ton gasoline mechanically driven counterbalanced forklift. Six units were produced in that year.
A Brief History of Chinese Forklifts
1953：Shenyang Electrical Machinery Factory successfully trial-produced our country’s first 2t battery pallet truck.
1954：In September, Shenyang Electrical Machinery Factory successfully trial-produced our country’s first 1.5t counterbalanced battery forklift
1958：In June, Dalian Machinery Manufacturing No. 1 Factory (the predecessor of Dalian Forklift Factory) successfully trial-produced our country’s first 5t internal combustion counterbalanced forklift.
In July, Dalian Hoisting and Transportation Machinery Factory (the predecessor of Baoji Forklift Factory and Baoji Forklift Factory) successfully trial-produced a 1.5t battery forklift.
1961：Shanghai Electric Machinery Factory successfully trial-produced a 0.75t battery forklift.
1962：Shanghai Jiaotong University’s lifting transporter major and Fushun No. 2 Machinery Factory successfully designed and trial-produced our country’s first 2t battery forklift.
1964：In January, the first 5t internal combustion hydraulic drive forklift designed by the Lifting and Conveying Machinery Research Institute of the First Machinery Department was manufactured by Dalian Steam Turbine Plant
1965：Shanxi Machinery Plant trial-produced our country’s first 1t internal combustion forklift designed by the Lifting and Conveying Machinery Research Institute of the First Ministry of Machinery.
1966:In September, Jiangsu Zhenjiang Mining Machinery Factory designed and trial-produced our country’s first 0.5t plug-in internal combustion forklift.
In December of the same year, Baoji forklifts cooperated with Wuhan Institute of Water Transport Engineering to successfully develop our country’s first 2t internal combustion forklift and put it into small batch production.
In the same year, Hefei Crane Transport Machinery Factory successfully developed our country’s first 3t internal combustion forklift.
In the same year, Shandong Forklift General Factory was established.
1967:Designed by the Lifting and Conveying Machinery Research Institute of the First Machinery Department, Shanxi Machinery Factory successfully trial-produced my country’s first 1-ton forklift work attachment.
1969:Designed jointly by the Lifting and Conveying Machinery Research Institute of the First Ministry of Machinery, the 232th Army of the People’s Liberation Army and Zhenjiang Mining Machinery Factory, the first 0.5t internal combustion forklift in my country was successfully trial-produced.
In the same year, Baoji Forklift Factory successfully designed and trial-produced our country’s first 5t internal combustion side forklift.
Since the 1970s, Chinese forklift companies have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain, and forklifts have also grown from nothing, from less to more, from simple to complex, step by step to the present, and also from domestic to foreign.
With the continuous progress of China’s industry, many Chinese forklift companies have also continued to grow bigger and stronger. Weimai Heavy Industries has been hobbled from the start in 2010, continuously improving products, expanding production, and expanding markets, and has now entered more than 70 countries around the world. In 2017, it was successfully listed on the New Third Board as the first private forklift company in Anhui Province.
In the course of its development, the company has successively obtained “Anhui Famous Brand Product”, “High-tech Enterprise Certificate”, “Lu’an City Informatization and Industrialization Demonstration Enterprise”, “Anhui Province Informatization and Industrialization Demonstration Enterprise”, “Lu’an “City brand-name products” and other awards.
This is a microcosm of the development of China’s forklift industry, and it is also a brilliant achievement of Chinese forklift companies going global with the wave of China’s industrialization.