Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
During the 1950s in the tower crane business, there were many significant developments in the design of these large cranes. Numerous manufacturers were started producing bottom slewing cranes with a telescoping mast. These kinds of equipments dominated the construction industry for apartment block and office construction. Many of the leading tower crane manufacturers didn't use cantilever jib designs. In its place, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, utilizing luffing jibs became the regular method.
In Europe, there were key improvements being made in the development and design of tower cranes. Usually, construction locations were tight areas. Depending on rail systems to transport several tower cranes, ended up being too inconvenient and costly. A number of manufacturers were offering saddle jib cranes which had hook heights of 262 feet or 80 meters. These kinds of cranes were equipped with self-climbing mechanisms that enabled sections of mast to be inserted into the crane so that it can grow along with the structures it was building upwards.
These specific cranes have long jibs and could cover a larger work area. All of these developments led to the practice of erecting and anchoring cranes inside 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 development and design started to cover 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 essential developments being made in the drive technology department, amongst other things.