Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
During the 1950s in the tower crane business, there were numerous important developments in the design of these huge cranes. Many different manufacturers were started making bottom slewing cranes with a telescoping mast. These types of machines dominated the construction business for office and apartment block construction. A lot 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 standard practice.
Manufacturers based in Europe were also heavily influential in the development and design of tower cranes. Construction sites on the continent were often tight places. Relying on rail systems to move a large number of tower cranes, ended up being very inconvenient and expensive. Some manufacturers were providing saddle jib cranes which had hook heights of 262 feet or 80 meters. These cranes were outfitted with self-climbing mechanisms which enabled sections of mast to be inserted into the crane so that it could grow along with the structures it was building upwards.
These particular cranes have long jibs and could cover a bigger work area. All of these developments resulted in the practice of constructing and anchoring cranes in a building's lift shaft. Afterwards, this is the technique that became the industry standard.
From the 1960s, the main focus on tower crane design and development started to cover a higher load moment, covering a larger job radius, faster erection strategies, climbing mechanisms and technology, and new control systems. Moreover, focus was spent on faster erection strategies with the most significant developments being made in the drive technology department, among other things.