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Cranes Explained
by Lucy Bartlett
Published on this site: October 5th, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
A crane, which is equipped with a derrick or tower, is used to lower and
lift materials with the use of pulleys and cable. Heavy equipment manufacturers
and the construction industry use cranes in various activities connected
with their process. Cranes used in the construction industry are mostly
temporary structures either mounted on a vehicle which is built for the specific
purpose of carrying the crane, or fixed to the ground.
Cranes may be controlled by various methods such as radiocontrol, infrared
control or a built in control station using a push button pendant or by
an operator sitting in the cab of the vehicle.
A standardized hand signal is used between the person operating the controls
and the workers in the ground. Bigger installations use radio communication
for this purpose. Loads can be positioned with great precision using such
signals by experienced crew of the crane. Crane vessels or ships often carry the
largest revolving cranes. For more info visit http://www.just-cranes.info
It is a surprise to note from the carved stone relief in Haterii's tomb
of 1st century Rome, which depicts a monument being built with a sort
of crane, that cranes were used in medieval shipyards and ports in Poland.
The various types of cranes in common use are railroad cranes, mobile
cranes, telescopic cranes, tower cranes, truck-mounted cranes, rough terrain
cranes, crawler cranes, loader cranes, floating cranes, gantry cranes
and aerial cranes.
A crane mounted on a railroad car or on a flatcar is known as railroad
crane. Mobile cranes are the most basic and common type of crane, which
as the name implies, can be carried easily to any place.
Tower cranes are fixed to the ground. These are mostly used in buildings
for the best combination of lifting capacity and height. A telescopic
crane is capable of lifting lower capacity but can reach greater heights.
To provide greater mobility, a crane will be mounted on a carrier truck
and is known as a truck-mounted crane. Whereas the rough terrain cranes,
which are mounted on four rubber tires, are capable of pick and carry
operations in rough terrain. Crawler cranes are mounted on a set of tracks with an undercarriage
and have better stability and mobility.
A suspended crane or overhead crane is used mostly inside factories and
they are capable of carrying very heavy loads. In automated and computer
controlled warehouses, a stacker crane with a forklift is used.
During bridge or port construction, floating cranes are used. To load
or offload awkward or heavy machinery floating cranes are ideal. They
are also used in offshore work. Aerial cranes, which are extended from
helicopters, are used to lift large loads.
The design of cranes is based on two major considerations. First is to
lift specified mass, the second is its stability, and it should not topple
over while performing lifting operations.
Lucy Bartlett - is a proud contributing author. For more info visit
http://just-cranes.info/
or http://just-cranes.info/jib-cranes.html
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