Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
In the tower crane business, the 1950s featured numerous important milestones in tower crane design and development. There were a variety of manufacturers were beginning to make more bottom slewing cranes that had telescoping mast. These machines dominated the construction market for both apartment block and office construction. Many of the leading tower crane manufacturers didn't use cantilever jib designs. As a substitute, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, the use of luffing jibs became the regular method.
In Europe, there were key improvements being made in the design and development of tower cranes. Often, construction sites were constricted areas. Relying upon rail systems to transport a large number of tower cranes, ended up being very inconvenient and costly. Some manufacturers were providing saddle jib cranes that had hook heights of 80 meters or 262 feet. These types of cranes were outfitted with self-climbing mechanisms which allowed sections of mast to be inserted into the crane so that it could grow along with the structures it was constructing upwards.
These specific cranes have long jibs and could cover a larger work area. All of these developments resulted in the practice of building and anchoring cranes in the lift shaft of a building. After that, this is the technique which became the industry standard.
From the 1960s, the main focus on tower crane design and development started to cover a higher load moment, covering a bigger job radius, faster erection strategies, climbing mechanisms and technology, and new control systems. Additionally, focus was spent on faster erection strategies with the most essential developments being made in the drive technology department, among other things.