A crane is a lifting machine that principally works with the use of pulleys and cables. For the construction industry, cranes are valuable assets because they make working with heavy machinery and construction materials easy.
The invention of cranes made things easy for humankind because without them, loading, unloading, and lifting had to be done by human hands, would consume more time, and the entire system was not efficient at all. The ancient Greeks invented the first construction crane hundreds of years ago. Modern day construction cranes are huge, taking up tons of material hundreds of meters in height. For high end infrastructure projects, tower cranes are used that have a reach as high as 800 meters.
Working of Construction Cranes
A crane uses the pulley and cable system to create a mechanical advantage so that large loads can be lifted. The two most important criteria in crane design are lifting capacity and stability. Winders, cables, ropes, chains, and a basic level-pulley system are essential parts of any type of crane. The lever and other simple machines make work easier by decreasing the amount of force required to accomplish lifting and moving tasks.
Levers manipulate the torque involved and enable construction engineers to lift heavy loads. A pulley serves its basic purpose, which is to distribute the amount of weight needed to lift an object. Inclusion of electronic components has made cranes even easier to operate because the control remains no more manual. A hi-tech crane will essentially be a combination of simpler systems integrated together.
Different Types of Cranes
Tower Crane
Different types of cranes exist depending on the particular job that needs to be completed. One of the most commonly seen cranes seen in cities is a tower crane. Tower cranes were initially developed in Europe and are now popular all over the world. A tower crane is used in the construction of tall