Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
Within the tower crane industry, the 1950s featured numerous significant milestones in tower crane design and development. There were a variety of manufacturers were starting to make more bottom slewing cranes that had telescoping mast. These machinery dominated the construction business for apartment block and office construction. Lots of of the top tower crane manufacturers discarded the use of cantilever jib designs. Instead, they made the switch to luffing jibs and in time, utilizing luffing jibs became the regular practice.
Manufacturers based in Europe were also really influential in the development and design of tower cranes. Construction areas on the continent were normally tight areas. Having to depend upon rail systems to move a large number of tower cranes, became very difficult and costly. Some manufacturers were providing saddle jib cranes which 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 could grow along with the structures it was constructing upwards.
The long jibs on these particular cranes also covered a larger work area. All of these developments led to the practice of constructing and anchoring cranes inside the lift shaft of a building. After that, this is the method that 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 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 important developments being made in the drive technology department, among other things.