Lifting Cranes

Lifting Cranes

Lifting cranes are machinery that use levers and pulleys to operate a long boom, or truss, that lifts, lowers, carries and moves loads that are too heavy be moved by smaller machinery or human power. They are found within the construction, engineering, manufacturing and transportation industries, and may either be mobile or fixed-in-place. Lifting cranes run on internal combustion, hydraulic or electric battery power. There are several different varieties of lifting cranes, all of which are customized to their particular application. Each have varying load capacities, sizes, lifting heights and span, and are mounted on automated vehicles or part of large or small metal structures. The areas they work in can be indoor, road, rough terrain, railroad, aerial or in bodies of water. While working, all lifting cranes must remain stable when lifting heavy loads. To prevent tipping, they are either built with counterweights to offset the weight of the lifting load, or are equipped with outriggers, which are metal arms that stabilize the lifting crane.

Many different kinds of lifting cranes are used today. Mobile cranes include truck mounted cranes, that are able to travel on highways, rough terrain cranes, which are able to maneuver on soft or uneven ground, railroad cranes, which have wheels capable of moving on train tracks, floating cranes, which are attached to boats and float in water, and aerial cranes, which are helicopters equipped with cranes that are used in hard-to-reach areas and disaster situations. Fixed cranes are not able to move, but can carry much heavier loads than mobile cranes and are much more stable. Smaller workstation cranes like monorail, jib and stacker cranes are used in indoor facilities and perform repetitive material and good transportation in loading docks and manufacturing facilities. They are either free-standing or wall or ceiling-mounted. Larger outdoor cranes are mostly used in building construction for large structures like bridges, highway systems and buildings, and large lifting applications like bulk-handling. Bridge, gantry and hoist cranes are larger fixed cranes.