Overhead Crane Design Basics

Crane manufacturers around the country are dedicated to taking the guesswork out of overhead crane design for their clients. When working with a crane manufacturer, you’ll need to form a partnership to ensure the end product matches your site and load capacity requirements. In general, all cranes are modified in some way to suit the needs of the job. Even though there are a finite number of standard crane types, and crane kits are offered to make installation simpler, each machine must Continue reading

What it Takes to be an Overhead Crane Operator

If you have excellent hand-eye coordination, you might want to learn how to become an overhead crane operator. Either by remote controls from the ground, or in the cab of an overhead crane, the operator must rely on hand-eye coordination and sound judgment for safe and accurate lifting of heavy objects and materials at construction sites, loading docks or inside manufacturing facilities. An overhead crane operator’s day might include controlling wrecking balls or maneuvering buckets of molten Continue reading

The Overhead Crane Inspection Checklist

OSHA has many things to say about the proper utilization and maintenance of overhead and gantry cranes, and it’s no wonder. When this equipment isn’t used in compliance with overhead crane inspection checklists, and operators don’t take the necessary precautions, serious damage can be done to anything in the crane’s path. OSHA offers a full three-page Continue reading

Leveraging Loads with Lifting Cranes

Isn’t the job of every crane to lift loads? So, every crane can be considered a “lifting” crane. Cranes lift, raise, lower, move, pick up, put down, carry, transport, position, handle—all these words. From a small, deck-mounted lifting crane that raises and lowers the motorized propeller on powerboats to the largest tower crane that lifts steel beams and other construction materials, lifting cranes are incorporated into a wide range of industries for easy, controlled handling of materials that’s not possible with other machinery. Either operated by a hand crank winch, fuel, hydraulic or electric power, Continue reading

Advantages of Electric Cranes

Cranes can be electrically, hydraulically, pneumatically or manually operated. When comparing electric cranes and hydraulic cranes, both are great tools to move loads in ways that are impossible for us to do on our own. Electric cranes offer more precision for shorter running cycles. A booster can be incorporated to add voltage while the battery is charging and discharging—more on this later. Hydraulic cranes are best for extended duty applications, Continue reading

Outdoor Industrial Cranes for Building and Re-building

With load capacities from 1 to 500 tons, industrial cranes provide the strength needed to lift, lower, carry and relocate what cannot be moved by smaller machinery or mere human power. Large outdoor cranes are mostly used in the construction of buildings and structures like bridges or highway systems, and in large lifting applications Continue reading

Crane Manufacturers from the Ancient Greeks to Today

Gorbel Crane ManufacturerCrane Manufacturer image courtesy of Gorbel Inc.

Humans have hungered for reaching far beyond what’s physically possible with our bodies alone. From the Tower of Babel to the modern Skyscraper, man devised ways to move loads greatly exceeding his normal capacity, creating Continue reading

We Can’t Live Without Overhead Cranes

Coh Overhead Crane

Overhead crane image courtesy of COH, Inc.

The Pyramids or Stonehenge might seem like marvels to us even today, as modern architecture and construction relies on heavy duty material handling equipment to transport and maneuver beams and other weighty loads, and move them to the necessary heights. Where would society be without Continue reading

Mobile Cranes are All-Terrain

All cranes are in a sense mobile. Gantries and jibs can have mobile supports, and bridge cranes that are part of a building’s overhead structure still have track and trolley rail systems with moving parts. And, in the broad picture, all cranes are meant to move loads from one location to another. However, for the following, I will be referring to Continue reading

Gantry Cranes: Symbols of Strength

Brehob Overhead Crane

Overhead Crane image courtesy of Brehob Corporation.

At a time when Ireland’s troubles were raging, there came a great announcement from one of Northern Ireland’s largest employers, Harland & Wolff. They were going to build two enormous gantry cranes to further their reputation and reach as one of the largest shipbuilders in the world. The first was completed in 1969 and the second in 1974. Named after biblical figures symbolizing grand strength, Continue reading