Cranes

Cranes are towers that use cables and pulleys to raise and lower materials. Cranes are commonly used to help make buildings as well as heavy equipment. Construction cranes are usually temporary structures that are either fixed to the ground or mounted on a construction vehicle.

Basic cranes consist of a steel boom mounted on a platform. The boom is hinged at the bottom and can be raised and lowered. A hook is suspended from the top of the boom by cables and pulleys. Electric motors power these cables. Cranes like this can easily become demolition cranes if you add a demolition ball, or earthmovers if you add a bucket.

Here is some information on several types of cranes:

Telescopic cranes are mobile cranes whose boom consists of several square tubes fitted inside each other. As these cranes expand, a hydraulic mechanism extends the tubes to increase their working height.

Tower cranes are fixed to the ground and offer the best combination of height and lifting capacity. These cranes are especially handy when it comes to the construction of tall buildings. A horizontal boom is balanced asymmetrically across the top of tower cranes. Tower cranes can usually jack themselves up taller as the building is constructed. The short arm carries a concrete counterweight, while the long arm carries the lifting apparatus. The crane operator can sit in a cabin at the top of tower cranes. Self-assembling tower cranes can jack themselves off of the ground, allowing the next tower section to be inserted at ground level.

Gantry cranes are large cranes used in ports and rail freight terminals. The lifting mechanism is mounted on a crossbeam and supported on vertical legs that move around on rails. These cranes can move huge loads of material.

Stacker cranes are usually used in warehouses. They move on tracks, raising and lowering their forklift mechanisms to store materials in (or remove them from) storage racks. Stacker cranes are frequently used in frozen food warehouses, so that human drivers do not need to work in freezing temperatures.

Floating cranes are used to build bridges and ports and to load/unload freight. Some of these cranes can lift up to 10,000 tons and transport whole bridge sections. Floating cranes can even help salvage sunken ships.

Thank you for visiting our website and learning about cranes. We hope that you will take a minute to look up information on other types of construction equipment.