Tower cranes are being utilized frequently for huge building construction projects. They are required for the heavy lifting and placing of materials and machinery. Tower cranes provide a different configuration that offers a lot of advantages over more traditional cranes. These advantages include: higher vertical lift, quiet electrical operation, reduced space requirements and increased capacities.
Hammerhead Crane
A hammerhead crane is a different configuration that is most often associated with a tower crane. In this situation, a long horizontal jib is connected to a vertical tower. 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 has the lifting cable and travels 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 help from a secondary crane. This greatly saves time in equipment costs and provides a huge benefit in setup time as well. Self-erecting cranes are often remote-controlled from the ground, although there are some models that have an operator cab built onto the jib.
Self-erecting cranes are generally freestanding and this allows them the opportunity to be able to be moved around. There are several models that 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 settings do not have enough space or clearance for the jib to freely rotate without existing buildings blocking its movement. A luffing jib tower crane is ideal for such tight spaces. Most tower cranes have a fixed horizontal jib. The operator is able to lower or raise a luffing jib in order to enable the crane to swing in a reduced radius.