Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
Within the tower crane business, the 1950s featured numerous significant milestones in tower crane development and design. There were a variety of manufacturers were starting to make more bottom slewing cranes that had telescoping mast. These kinds of equipments dominated the construction industry for both office and apartment block construction. Lots of of the leading tower crane manufacturers discarded the use of cantilever jib designs. Instead, they made the switch to luffing jibs and in time, using luffing jibs became the standard method.
Within Europe, there were key improvements being made in the design and development of tower cranes. Often, construction sites were constricted places. Relying on rail systems to move a large number of tower cranes, ended up being very difficult and expensive. A number of manufacturers were offering saddle jib cranes which had hook heights of 262 feet or 80 meters. These types of cranes were outfitted with self-climbing mechanisms which enabled sections of mast to be inserted into the crane so that it could grow along with the structures it was constructing upwards.
The long jibs on these particular cranes also covered a larger work area. All of these developments precipitated the practice of constructing and anchoring cranes inside the lift shaft of a building. Afterwards, this is the method which became the industry standard.
The main focus on tower crane design and development from the 1960s began on covering a higher load moment, covering a bigger job radius, climbing mechanisms and technology, faster erection strategies, and new control systems. Furthermore, focus was spent on faster erection strategies with the most important developments being made in the drive technology department, amongst other things.