Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
Throughout the 1950s in the tower crane business, 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 machines dominated the construction market for office and apartment block construction. Lots of of the leading tower crane manufacturers didn't utilize cantilever jib designs. In its place, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, the use of luffing jibs became the regular method.
Within Europe, there were major improvements being made in the development and design of tower cranes. Normally, construction sites were constricted places. Relying upon rail systems to transport several tower cranes, became very expensive and difficult. A number of manufacturers were offering saddle jib cranes that had hook heights of 80 meters or 262 feet. These cranes were equipped with self-climbing mechanisms which allowed sections of mast to be inserted into the crane so that it could grow along with the structures it was constructing upwards.
These specific cranes have long jibs and could cover a bigger work area. All of these developments resulted in the practice of erecting and anchoring cranes inside a building's lift shaft. After that, this is the method 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 significant developments being made in the drive technology department, amongst other things.