Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
In the tower crane business, the 1950s featured many important milestones in tower crane development and design. There were a range of manufacturers were beginning to make more bottom slewing cranes which had telescoping mast. These kinds of machinery dominated the construction business for both office and apartment block construction. A lot of of the leading tower crane manufacturers didn't use cantilever jib designs. In its place, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, using luffing jibs became the standard practice.
In Europe, there were major improvements being made in the design and development of tower cranes. Normally, construction locations were tight areas. Having to depend on rail systems to move a large number of tower cranes, became very difficult and costly. Some manufacturers were offering saddle jib cranes which had hook heights of 262 feet or 80 meters. These types of cranes were equipped 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 building upwards.
The long jibs on these specific cranes also covered a bigger work area. All of these developments precipitated the practice of building and anchoring cranes in the lift shaft of a building. 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 larger job radius, faster erection strategies, climbing mechanisms and technology, and new control systems. In addition, focus was spent on faster erection strategies with the most essential developments being made in the drive technology department, amongst other things.