Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
Within the tower crane business, the 1950s featured numerous important milestones in tower crane development and design. There were a variety of manufacturers were beginning to make more bottom slewing cranes which had telescoping mast. These types of equipments dominated the construction business for both office and apartment block construction. A lot of of the leading tower crane manufacturers didn't utilize cantilever jib designs. In its place, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, utilizing luffing jibs became the regular method.
Within Europe, there were major improvements being made in the development and design of tower cranes. Normally, construction sites were tight places. Depending upon rail systems to transport a large number of tower cranes, ended up being very difficult and expensive. Some manufacturers were providing saddle jib cranes which had hook heights of 80 meters or 262 feet. These cranes were equipped with self-climbing mechanisms which enabled parts of mast to be inserted into the crane so that it can grow along with the structures it was constructing upwards.
The long jibs on these specific cranes also covered a bigger work area. All of these developments led to the practice of erecting and anchoring cranes in the lift shaft of a building. After that, this is the method which became the industry standard.
The main focus on tower crane design and development from the 1960s started on covering a higher load moment, covering a larger job radius, faster erection strategies, climbing mechanisms and technology, and new control systems. Moreover, focus was spent on faster erection strategies with the most significant developments being made in the drive technology department, among other things.