For huge building construction projects, tower cranes are utilized quite frequently. These machines are rather essential for heavy lifting as well as positioning materials and equipment. Tower cranes offer a different design that offers a lot of benefits over more conventional cranes. These benefits include: higher vertical lift, quiet electrical operation, reduced space requirements and increased capacities.
Hammerhead Crane
The hammerhead crane is commonly associated with a tower crane. The long horizontal jib is attached to a vertical tower, in this situation. One end of the jib acts as a counterweight and the other end of the jib extends horizontally over the worksite. There is a trolley on the hammerhead crane. This trolley holds the lifting cable and can travel along the length of the jib. The tower crane is capable of operating anywhere within 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 another crane. This provides a huge advantage in setup time and greatly saves time in equipment costs as well. Self-erecting cranes are often remote-controlled from the ground, although there are several models which have an operator cab built onto the jib.
The self-erecting crane is generally freestanding to enable them the opportunity to be moved around. There are some models which have a telescoping tower that enables the crane to work at multiple 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 rotate freely without existing buildings blocking its movement. A luffing jib tower crane is ideal for such tight areas. Most tower cranes have a fixed horizontal jib. The driver can raise or lower a luffing jib in order to allow the crane to swing in a reduced radius.