Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
Throughout the 1950s in the tower crane industry, there were many important developments in the design of these big cranes. Numerous manufacturers were started making bottom slewing cranes with a telescoping mast. These machinery dominated the construction industry for office and apartment block construction. A lot of of the leading tower crane manufacturers didn't utilize cantilever jib designs. As an alternative, they made the switch to luffing jibs and in time, utilizing luffing jibs became the standard practice.
Manufacturers based in Europe were also heavily important in the design and development of tower cranes. Construction sites on the continent were usually constricted places. Relying on rail systems to transport a large number of tower cranes, ended up being too costly and inconvenient. A number of manufacturers were offering saddle jib cranes that had hook heights of 80 meters or 262 feet. These cranes were outfitted 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 particular cranes have long jibs and could cover a larger 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 which became the industry standard.
The main focus on tower crane design and development from the 1960s started on covering a higher load moment, covering a bigger job radius, faster erection strategies, climbing mechanisms and technology, and new control systems. Moreover, focus was spent on faster erection strategies with the most important developments being made in the drive technology department, among other things.