Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
In the 1950s in the tower crane business, there were numerous significant developments in the design of these huge cranes. Many different manufacturers were started making bottom slewing cranes with a telescoping mast. These machines dominated the construction market for both apartment block and office construction. Lots of of the top tower crane manufacturers didn't use cantilever jib designs. As a substitute, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, utilizing luffing jibs became the standard method.
In Europe, there were major improvements being made in the design and development of tower cranes. Normally, construction sites were tight areas. Depending upon rail systems to transport a large number of tower cranes, became too difficult and costly. Some manufacturers were providing saddle jib cranes which had hook heights of 80 meters or 262 feet. These kinds of cranes were outfitted with self-climbing mechanisms which allowed parts 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 can cover 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 which 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. Furthermore, focus was spent on faster erection strategies with the most important developments being made in the drive technology department, among other things.