Tower cranes are being utilized frequently for large building construction projects. They are essential for the heavy lifting and positioning of materials and machinery. Tower cranes provide a unique configuration that provides many benefits over more conventional cranes. These benefits consist of: quiet electrical operation, higher vertical lift, increased capacities, and reduced space requirements.
Hammerhead Crane
A hammerhead crane is another design that is most often associated with a tower crane. In this case, a long horizontal jib is connected to a vertical tower. One end of the jib extends horizontally over the worksite and the other end of the jib acts as a counterweight. On the hammerhead crane, there is a trolley. This trolley has the lifting cable and could travel along the length of the jib. The tower crane could operate anywhere in the jib's radius.
Self-Erecting Tower Cranes
A self-erecting crane is capable of completely assembling itself at the jobsite without any assistance from a secondary crane. This provides a huge advantage in setup time and greatly saves time in equipment costs too. Self-erecting cranes are often remote-controlled from the ground, although there are some models which have an operator cab built onto the jib.
Self-erecting cranes are normally freestanding and this allows them the opportunity to be able to be moved around. There are some models that have a telescoping tower which enables the crane to work at various heights without the need to reconfigure the tower.
Luffing Jib Tower Crane
The majority of urban work environments do not have enough clearance or space for the jib to freely rotate without existing buildings blocking its movement. A luffing jib tower crane is ideal for such tight areas. The majority of tower cranes have a fixed horizontal jib. The driver is able to raise or lower a luffing jib in order to enable the crane to swing in a reduced radius.