Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
Throughout the 1950s in the tower crane business, there were numerous important developments in the design of these huge cranes. Numerous manufacturers were started making bottom slewing cranes with a telescoping mast. These types of machinery dominated the construction business for apartment block and office construction. Many of the top tower crane manufacturers discarded the use of cantilever jib designs. Instead, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, using luffing jibs became the standard method.
In Europe, there were major improvements being made in the development and design of tower cranes. Usually, construction locations were tight places. Having to rely on rail systems to move several tower cranes, became too costly and inconvenient. A number of manufacturers were providing saddle jib cranes that had hook heights of 80 meters or 262 feet. These types of cranes were equipped 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.
The long jibs on these specific cranes also covered a bigger work area. All of these developments precipitated the practice of building and anchoring cranes inside a building's lift shaft. Then, 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 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 essential developments being made in the drive technology department, amongst other things.