Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
During the 1950s in the tower crane industry, there were numerous important developments in the design of these huge cranes. Many different manufacturers were started producing bottom slewing cranes with a telescoping mast. These machinery dominated the construction industry for both apartment block and office construction. Lots of of the leading tower crane manufacturers didn't utilize cantilever jib designs. Instead, they made the switch to luffing jibs and in time, the use of luffing jibs became the regular method.
In Europe, there were major improvements being made in the development and design of tower cranes. Normally, construction locations were tight places. Having to rely upon rail systems to transport a large number of tower cranes, became very costly and difficult. Some manufacturers were providing saddle jib cranes that had hook heights of 262 feet or 80 meters. These cranes were outfitted 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 building upwards.
The long jibs on these specific cranes also covered a bigger work area. All of these developments precipitated the practice of erecting and anchoring cranes in a building's lift shaft. After that, 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 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 important developments being made in the drive technology department, among other things.