Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
In the 1950s in the tower crane business, there were many important developments in the design of these large cranes. Numerous manufacturers were started producing bottom slewing cranes with a telescoping mast. These types of equipments dominated the construction business for both office and apartment block construction. Many of the top tower crane manufacturers discarded the use of cantilever jib designs. Instead, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, the use of luffing jibs became the regular method.
Within Europe, there were major improvements being made in the design and development of tower cranes. Usually, construction sites were constricted places. Relying upon rail systems to move several tower cranes, became very inconvenient and costly. A number of manufacturers were offering saddle jib cranes which had hook heights of 80 meters or 262 feet. These types of cranes were outfitted with self-climbing mechanisms that enabled parts of mast to be inserted into the crane so that it could grow along with the structures it was building upwards.
These particular cranes have long jibs and can cover a bigger work area. All of these developments resulted in the practice of constructing and anchoring cranes inside a building's lift shaft. Then, this is the technique that 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. Moreover, focus was spent on faster erection strategies with the most essential developments being made in the drive technology department, among other things.