Clark Material Handling Company (CMHC), also known as CLARK or CLARK the Forklift, is an American manufacturer of forklift trucks based in Dallas, Texas. The company has manufacturing facilities in Changwon, South Korea, Lexington, Kentucky, Qingdao, China, and Hanoi, Vietnam. CLARK currently (2023) offers one of the broadest product lines in the industry, with products covering all five forklift classes, ranging from hand pallet jacks to 18,000 pound-capacity sit down forklifts.[1]
According to the company, there are over 350,000 CLARK forklift trucks currently in operation around the world.[2] CLARK is credited with having invented the world's first truck with a hydraulic lifting mechanism in 1924, an attachment to the Duat tow tractor. This internal combustion truck with hydraulic lifting mechanism became the forerunner to modern forklift trucks.
The company began as the George R. Rich Manufacturing Company, a manufacturer of steel products, which was purchased by the Illinois Steel Company in 1897. In 1904, they tasked Eugene Clark, a young engineer working for the Illinois Steel Company, with improving the product, facility, and prosperity of the George R. Rich Manufacturing Company. Eugene Clark refined the product, improved facility efficiency, and rearranged the staff to optimize productivity, and under his leadership, they renamed the company to the Celfor Tool Company in 1907, after their staple product, the Celfor Drill.
In 1916, after enjoying many years of success, growth, and expansion, they renamed the company the Clark Equipment Company, after Eugene Clark.