Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
Throughout the 1950s in the tower crane industry, there were many significant developments in the design of these large cranes. Many different manufacturers were started producing bottom slewing cranes with a telescoping mast. These kinds of machines dominated the construction market for both apartment block and office construction. A lot of of the top tower crane manufacturers abandoned the use of cantilever jib designs. As a substitute, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, utilizing luffing jibs became the regular method.
Manufacturers based within Europe were also heavily important in the development and design of tower cranes. Construction locations on the continent were often tight areas. Relying on rail systems to transport a large number of tower cranes, became too expensive and difficult. Some manufacturers were offering saddle jib cranes that had hook heights of 80 meters or 262 feet. These 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.
The long jibs on these particular cranes additionally covered a bigger work area. All of these developments resulted in the practice of building and anchoring cranes inside the lift shaft of a building. Afterwards, this is the technique that 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. Additionally, focus was spent on faster erection strategies with the most important developments being made in the drive technology department, amongst other things.