Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
Within the tower crane industry, 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 which had telescoping mast. These kinds of machinery dominated the construction industry for office and apartment block construction. Many of the top tower crane manufacturers discarded the use of cantilever jib designs. In its place, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, the use of luffing jibs became the standard practice.
Within Europe, there were key improvements being made in the design and development of tower cranes. Usually, construction locations were constricted places. Having to rely upon rail systems to transport a large number of tower cranes, ended up being too difficult and expensive. Some manufacturers were offering saddle jib cranes that had hook heights of 262 feet or 80 meters. These cranes were equipped with self-climbing mechanisms that enabled parts of mast to be inserted into the crane so that it can grow along with the structures it was constructing upwards.
These particular cranes have long jibs and can cover a bigger work area. All of these developments led to the practice of erecting 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 development and design 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. Moreover, focus was spent on faster erection strategies with the most significant developments being made in the drive technology department, amongst other things.