Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
During the 1950s in the tower crane industry, there were numerous important developments in the design of these large cranes. Numerous manufacturers were started producing bottom slewing cranes with a telescoping mast. These machinery dominated the construction industry for both apartment block and office 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, the use of luffing jibs became the standard method.
In Europe, there were major improvements being made in the design and development of tower cranes. Usually, construction locations were tight areas. Depending on rail systems to transport a large number of tower cranes, became very difficult and costly. A number of manufacturers were offering saddle jib cranes which had hook heights of 262 feet or 80 meters. These kinds of cranes were outfitted with self-climbing mechanisms that allowed parts of mast to be inserted into the crane so that it can grow along with the structures it was constructing upwards.
These particular cranes have long jibs and could cover a bigger work area. All of these developments led to the practice of constructing and anchoring cranes inside a building's lift shaft. Afterwards, this is the method that became the industry standard.
The main focus on tower crane development and design 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.