Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
During the 1950s in the tower crane industry, there were numerous significant developments in the design of these big cranes. Many different manufacturers were started making bottom slewing cranes with a telescoping mast. These kinds of equipments dominated the construction market for office and apartment block construction. Many of the leading tower crane manufacturers discarded the use of cantilever jib designs. In its place, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, using luffing jibs became the standard method.
In Europe, there were key improvements being made in the design and development of tower cranes. Normally, construction sites were tight areas. Having to rely on rail systems to move a large number of tower cranes, became too inconvenient and costly. Some manufacturers were providing saddle jib cranes which had hook heights of 80 meters or 262 feet. These kinds of cranes were equipped with self-climbing mechanisms that enabled sections of mast to be inserted into the crane so that it could 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 precipitated the practice of constructing and anchoring cranes in the lift shaft of a building. Afterwards, this is the technique which became the industry standard.
From the 1960s, the main focus on tower crane design and development 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 important developments being made in the drive technology department, amongst other things.