Mechanical principles[edit]

Crane movements

Broken crane in Sermetal Shipyard, former Ishikawajima do Brasil - Rio de Janeiro. The cause of the
accident was a lack of maintenance and misuse of the equipment.

Cranes can mount many different utensils depending on load (left). Cranes can be remote-controlled from
the ground, allowing much more precise control, but without the view that a position atop the crane
provides (right).
The stability of a mobile construction crane can be jeopardized when outriggers sink into soft soil, which
can result in the crane tipping over.

There are three major considerations in the design of cranes. First, the crane must be able to lift
the weight of the load; second, the crane must not topple; third, the crane must not rupture.

Stability[edit]
For stability, the sum of all moments about the base of the crane must be close to zero so that
the crane does not overturn. [36] In practice, the magnitude of load that is permitted to be lifted
(called the "rated load" in the US) is some value less than the load that will cause the crane to
tip, thus providing a safety margin.
Under US standards for mobile cranes, the stability-limited rated load for a crawler crane is 75%
of the tipping load. The stability-limited rated load for a mobile crane supported on outriggers is
85% of the tipping load.
Standards for cranes mounted on ships or offshore platforms are somewhat stricter because of
the dynamic load on the crane due to vessel motion. Additionally, the stability of the vessel or
platform must be considered.
For stationary pedestal or kingpost mounted cranes, the moment created by the boom, jib, and
load is resisted by the pedestal base or kingpost. Stress within the base must be less than the
yield stress of the material or the crane will fail.

Types
Overhead crane

Overhead crane being used in typical machine shop. The hoist is operated via a wired pushbutton station
to move system and the load in any direction

Main article: Overhead crane

An overhead crane, also known as a bridge crane, is a type of crane where the hook-and-line
mechanism runs along a horizontal beam that itself runs along two widely separated rails. Often
it is in a long factory building and runs along rails along the building's two long walls. It is similar
to a gantry crane. Overhead cranes typically consist of either a single beam or a double beam
construction. These can be built using typical steel beams or a more complex box girder type.
Pictured on the right is a single bridge box girder crane with the hoist and system operated with
a control pendant. Double girder bridge are more typical when needing heavier capacity systems
from 10 tons and above. The advantage of the box girder type configuration results in a system
that has a lower deadweight yet a stronger overall system integrity. Also included would be a
hoist to lift the items, the bridge, which spans the area covered by the crane, and a trolley to
move along the bridge.
The most common overhead crane use is in the steel industry. At every step of the
manufacturing process, until it leaves a factory as a finished product, steel is handled by an
overhead crane. Raw materials are poured into a furnace by crane, hot steel is stored for cooling
by an overhead crane, the finished coils are lifted and loaded onto trucks and trains by overhead
crane, and the fabricator or stamper uses an overhead crane to handle the steel in his factory.
The automobile industry uses overhead cranes for handling of raw materials.
Smaller workstation cranes handle lighter loads in a work-area, such as CNC mill or saw.
Almost all paper mills use bridge cranes for regular maintenance requiring removal of heavy
press rolls and other equipment. The bridge cranes are used in the initial construction of paper
machines because they facilitate installation of the heavy cast iron paper drying drums and other
massive equipment, some weighing as much as 70 tons.
In many instances the cost of a bridge crane can be largely offset with savings from not renting
mobile cranes in the construction of a facility that uses a lot of heavy process equipment.

Mobile[edit]
Main article: Mobile crane
The most basic type of mobile crane consists of a truss or telescopic boom mounted on a mobile
platform — be it on road, rail or water. Common terminology is conventional and hydraulic cranes
respectively.
Truck-mounted crane[edit]

Developed truck-mounted crane at work

Truck-mounted crane

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A crane mounted on a truck carrier provides the mobility for this type of crane. This crane has
two parts: the carrier, often referred to as the Lower, and the lifting component which includes the
boom, referred to as the Upper. These are mated together through a turntable, allowing the
upper to swing from side to side. These modern hydraulic truck cranes are usually single-engine
machines, with the same engine powering the undercarriage and the crane. The upper is usually
powered via hydraulics run through the turntable from the pump mounted on the lower. In older
model designs of hydraulic truck cranes, there were two engines. One in the lower pulled the
crane down the road and ran a hydraulic pump for the outriggers and jacks. The one in the upper
ran the upper through a hydraulic pump of its own. Many older operators favor the two-engine
system due to leaking seals in the turntable of aging newer design cranes. Hiab invented the
world's first hydraulic truck mounted crane in 1947. [37] The name, Hiab, comes from the commonly
used abbreviation of Hydrauliska Industri AB, a company founded in Hudiksvall, Sweden 1944 by
Eric Sundin, a ski manufacturer who saw a way to utilize a truck's engine to power loader cranes
through the use of hydraulics.

A mobile crane folds itself up at Erlangen, Germany.

Generally, these cranes are able to travel on highways, eliminating the need for special
equipment to transport the crane unless weight or other size constrictions are in place such as
local laws. If this is the case, most larger cranes are equipped with either special trailers to help
spread the load over more axles or are able to disassemble to meet requirements. An example is
counterweights. Often a crane will be followed by another truck hauling the counterweights that
are removed for travel. In addition some cranes are able to remove the entire upper. However,
this is usually only an issue in a large crane and mostly done with a conventional crane such as a
Link-Belt HC-238. When working on the job site, outriggers are extended horizontally from the
chassis then vertically to level and stabilize the crane while stationary and hoisting. Many truck
cranes have slow-travelling capability (a few miles per hour) while suspending a load. Great care
must be taken not to swing the load sideways from the direction of travel, as most anti-tipping
stability then lies in the stiffness of the chassis suspension. Most cranes of this type also have
moving counterweights for stabilization beyond that provided by the outriggers. Loads
suspended directly aft are the most stable, since most of the weight of the crane acts as a
counterweight. Factory-calculated charts (or electronic safeguards) are used by crane operators
to determine the maximum safe loads for stationary (outriggered) work as well as (on-rubber)
loads and travelling speeds.
Truck cranes range in lifting capacity from about 14.5 short tons (12.9 long tons; 13.2 t) to about
1,300 short tons (1,161 long tons; 1,179 t). Although most only rotate about 180 degrees, the
more expensive truck mounted cranes can turn a full 360 degrees.
Sidelifter crane[edit]
Sidelift crane
A sidelifter crane is a road-going truck or semi-trailer, able to hoist and transport ISO
standard containers. Container lift is done with parallel crane-like hoists, which can lift a
container from the ground or from a railway vehicle.
Rough terrain crane[edit]

Rough terrain crane

A crane mounted on an undercarriage with four rubber tires that is designed for pick-and-carry
operations and for off-road and "rough terrain" applications. Outriggers are used to level and
stabilize the crane for hoisting.
These telescopic cranes are single-engine machines, with the same engine powering the
undercarriage and the crane, similar to a crawler crane. In a rough terrain crane, the engine is
usually mounted in the undercarriage rather than in the upper, as with crawler crane. Most have
4 wheel drive and 4 wheel steering which allows them to traverse tighter and slicker terrain than
a standard truck crane with less site prep. In addition, there are rough terrain cranes with the
operating cab mounted on the lower as opposed to the P&H in the above image.
All terrain crane[edit]

All terrain crane

A mobile crane with the necessary equipment to travel at speed on public roads, and on rough
terrain at the job site using all-wheel and crab steering. AT‘s combine the roadability of Truck-
mounted Cranes and the manoeuvrability of Rough Terrain Cranes.
AT’s have 2-9 axles and are designed for lifting loads up to 1,200 tonnes (1,323 short tons;
1,181 long tons).[38]
Pick and carry crane[edit]
A Pick and Carry Crane is similar to a mobile crane in that is designed to travel on public roads,
however Pick and Carry cranes have no stabiliser legs or outriggers and are designed to lift the
load and carry it to its destination, within a small radius, then be able to drive to the next job. Pick
and Carry cranes are popular in Australia where large distances are encountered between job
sites. One popular manufacturer in Australia was Franna, who have since been bought by Terex,
and now all pick and carry cranes are commonly referred to as "Frannas" even though they may
be made by other manufacturers. Nearly every medium and large sized crane company in
Australia has at least one and many companies have fleets of these cranes. The capacity range
is usually ten to twenty tonnes maximum lift, although this is much less at the tip of the boom.
Pick and Carry cranes have displaced the work usually completed by smaller truck cranes as the
set up time is much quicker. Many steel fabrication yards also use pick and carry cranes as they
can "walk" with fabricated steel sections and place these where required with relative ease.
Carry deck crane[edit]
A carry deck crane is a small 4 wheel crane with a 360 degree rotating boom placed right in the
centre and an operators cab located at one end under this boom. The rear section houses the
engine and the area above the wheels is a flat deck. Very much an American invention the Carry
deck can hoist a load in a confined space and then load it on the deck space around the cab or
engine and subsequently move to another site. The Carry Deck principle is the American version
of the pick and carry crane and both allow the load to be moved by the crane over short
distances.
Telescopic handler crane[edit]
Telescopic Handlers are like forklift trucks that have a telescoping extendable boom like a crane.
Early telescopic handlers only lifted in one direction and did not rotate, [39]however, several of the
manufacturers have designed telescopic handlers that rotate 360 degrees through a turntable
and these machines look almost identical to the Rough Terrain Crane. These new 360 degree
telescopic handler/crane models have outriggers or stabiliser legs that must be lowered before
lifting, however their design has been simplified so that they can be more quickly deployed.
These machines are often used to handle pallets of bricks and install frame trusses on many new
building sites and they have eroded much of the work for small telescopic truck cranes. Many of
the worlds Armed forces have purchased telescopic handlers and some of these are the much
more expensive fully rotating types. Their off road capability and their on site versatility to unload
pallets using forks, or lift like a crane makes them a valuable piece of machinery.
Crawler crane[edit]

Crawler crane

A crawler is a crane mounted on an undercarriage with a set of tracks (also called crawlers) that
provide stability and mobility. Crawler cranes range in lifting capacity from about 40 to 3,500
short tons (35.7 to 3,125.0 long tons; 36.3 to 3,175.1 t).
Crawler cranes have both advantages and disadvantages depending on their use. Their main
advantage is that they can move around on site and perform each lift with little set-up, since the
crane is stable on its tracks with no outriggers. Caterpillar tracks are also far better at traversing
soft ground without sinking in, as they spread the weight out over a great area. Thus a crawler
crane can move about an unprepared job site with less risk of getting stuck in soft ground. In
addition, a crawler crane is capable of traveling with a load. The main disadvantage is that they
are very heavy, and cannot easily be moved from one job site to another without significant
expense. Typically a large crawler must be disassembled and moved by trucks, rail cars or ships
to its next location.
Harbour crane[edit]
Dry bulk or container cranes usually in the bay areas or inland water ways.
Mobile container crane

Railroad crane[edit]

Rail crane

For more details on this topic, see Crane (railroad).

A railroad crane has flanged wheels for use on railroads. The simplest form is a crane mounted
on a flatcar. More capable devices are purpose-built. Different types of crane are used
for maintenance work, recovery operations and freight loading in goods yards and scrap handling
facilities.
Floating crane[edit]

Floating crane

Floating cranes are used mainly in bridge building and port construction, but they are also used
for occasional loading and unloading of especially heavy or awkward loads on and off ships.
Some floating cranes are mounted on pontoons, others are specialized crane bargeswith a lifting
capacity exceeding 10,000 short tons (8,929 long tons; 9,072 t) and have been used to transport
entire bridge sections. Floating cranes have also been used to salvage sunken ships.
Crane vessels are often used in offshore construction. The largest revolving cranes can be found
on SSCV Thialf, which has two cranes with a capacity of 7,100 tonnes (7,826 short tons;
6,988 long tons) each. For 50 years, the largest such crane was "Herman the German" at the
Long Beach Naval Shipyard, one of three constructed by Hitler's Germany and captured in the
war. The crane was sold to the Panama Canal in 1996 where it is now known as the "Titan." [40]
Aerial crane[edit]

Aerial crane

Aerial crane or 'Sky cranes' usually are helicopters designed to lift large loads. Helicopters are
able to travel to and lift in areas that are difficult to reach by conventional cranes. Helicopter
cranes are most commonly used to lift units/loads onto shopping centers and highrises. They can
lift anything within their lifting capacity, (cars, boats, swimming pools, etc.). They also perform
disaster relief after natural disasters for clean-up, and during wild-fires they are able to carry
huge buckets of water to extinguish fires.
Some aerial cranes, mostly concepts, have also used lighter-than air aircraft, such as airships.

Fixed[edit]
Exchanging mobility for the ability to carry greater loads and reach greater heights due to
increased stability, these types of cranes are characterised by the fact that their main structure
does not move during the period of use. However, many can still be assembled and
disassembled. The structure basically are fixed in one place.
Tower crane [edit]

Tower crane atop Mont Blanc

Tower cranes are a modern form of balance crane that consist of the same basic parts. Fixed to
the ground on a concrete slab (and sometimes attached to the sides of structures), tower cranes
often give the best combination of height and lifting capacity and are used in the construction of
tall buildings. The base is then attached to the mast which gives the crane its height. Further the
mast is attached to the slewing unit (gear and motor) that allows the crane to rotate. On top of
the slewing unit there are three main parts which are: the long horizontal jib (working arm),
shorter counter-jib, and the operator's cab.

Tower crane cabin

The long horizontal jib is the part of the crane that carries the load. The counter-jib carries a
counterweight, usually of concrete blocks, while the jib suspends the load to and from the center
of the crane. The crane operator either sits in a cab at the top of the tower or controls the crane
by radio remote control from the ground. In the first case the operator's cab is most usually
located at the top of the tower attached to the turntable, but can be mounted on the jib, or
partway down the tower. The lifting hook is operated by the crane operator using electric motors
to manipulate wire rope cables through a system of sheaves. The hook is located on the long
horizontal arm to lift the load which also contains its motor.

A tower crane rotates on its axis before lowering the lifting hook.

In order to hook and unhook the loads, the operator usually works in conjunction with a signaller
(known as a 'dogger', 'rigger' or 'swamper'). They are most often in radio contact, and always use
hand signals. The rigger or dogger directs the schedule of lifts for the crane, and is responsible
for the safety of the rigging and loads.
Components[edit]
Tower cranes are used extensively in construction and other industry to hoist and move
materials. There are many types of tower cranes. Although they are different in type, the main
parts are the same, as follows:

 Mast: the main supporting tower of the crane. It is made of steel trussed sections that are
connected together during installation.
 Slewing unit: the slewing unit sits at the top of the mast. This is the engine that enables
the crane to rotate.
 Operating cabin: the operating cabin sits just above the slewing unit. It contains the
operating controls.
 Jib: the jib, or operating arm, extends horizontally from the crane. A "luffing" jib is able to
move up and down; a fixed jib has a rolling trolley that runs along the underside to move
goods horizontally.
 Counter jib: holds counterweights, hoist motor, hoist drum and the electronics.[41]
 Hoist unit: the hoist unit houses the hoist drum, hoist cable, gear box, gear shift, brake,
and supporting components.
 Hook: the hook (or hooks) is used to connect the material to the crane. It hangs at the
end of thick steel cables that run along the jib to the motor.
 Weights: Large concrete counterweights are mounted toward the rear of the mast, to
compensate for the weight of the goods lifted. [42]

This crane's main beam was broken due to an overload

A tower crane is usually assembled by a telescopic jib (mobile) crane of greater reach (also see
"self-erecting crane" below) and in the case of tower cranes that have risen while constructing
very tall skyscrapers, a smaller crane (or derrick) will often be lifted to the roof of the completed
tower to dismantle the tower crane afterwards, which may be more difficult than the installation.
[43]
 Tower Cranes can often be Pedestrian Operated by a remote control, removing the need for a
cab for the Crane Operator to work from.
Self-Erecting Tower Cranes[edit]

Four self-erecting tower cranes mounted on the roof of 1st observatory (height 375 m) of Tokyo
Skytree (Tower tip and two crane operator as of 497 m)

Generally a type of pedestrian operated tower crane, these cranes, also called self-assembling,
jack-up, or "kangaroo" cranes, lift themselves from the ground or lift an upper, telescoping
section using jacks, allowing the next section of the tower to be inserted at ground level or lifted
into place by the partially erected crane itself. They can thus be assembled without outside help,
and can grow together with the building or structure they are erecting.
Self-erecting crane

For a video of a crane getting taller, see here: [44]

For another animation of such a crane in use see this video: [45] (Here, the crane is used to erect a
scaffold which in turn contains a gantry to lift sections of a bridge spire.)
Telescopic crane[edit]

Telescopic crane

A telescopic crane has a boom that consists of a number of tubes fitted one inside the other.
A hydraulic or other powered mechanism extends or retracts the tubes to increase or decrease
the total length of the boom. These types of booms are often used for short term construction
projects, rescue jobs, lifting boats in and out of the water, etc. The relative compactness of
telescopic booms make them adaptable for many mobile applications.
Though not all telescopic cranes are mobile cranes, many of them are truck-mounted.
A telescopic tower crane has a telescopic mast and often a superstructure (jib) on top so that it
functions as a tower crane. Some telescopic tower cranes also have a telescopic jib.
Hammerhead crane[edit]
Hammerhead crane

The "hammerhead", or giant cantilever, crane is a fixed-jib crane consisting of a steel-braced

tower on which revolves a large, horizontal, double cantilever; the forward part of this cantilever
or jibcarries the lifting trolley, the jib is extended backwards in order to form a support for the
machinery and counterbalancing weight. In addition to the motions of lifting and revolving, there
is provided a so-called "racking" motion, by which the lifting trolley, with the load suspended, can
be moved in and out along the jib without altering the level of the load. Such horizontal
movement of the load is a marked feature of later crane design. These cranes are generally
constructed in large sizes and can weigh up to 350 tons.
The design of hammerkran evolved first in Germany around the turn of the 19th century and was
adopted and developed for use in Britishshipyards to support the battleship construction program
from 1904 to 1914. The ability of the hammerhead crane to lift heavy weights was useful for
installing large pieces of battleships such as armour plate and gun barrels. Giant cantilever
cranes were also installed in naval shipyards in Japan and in the United States. The British
government also installed a giant cantilever crane at the Singapore Naval Base (1938) and later
a copy of the crane was installed at Garden Island Naval Dockyard in Sydney (1951). These
cranes provided repair support for the battle fleet operating far from Great Britain.
In the British Empire, the engineering firm Sir William Arrol & Co Ltd was the principal
manufacturer of giant cantilever cranes; the company built a total of fourteen. Among the sixty
built in the world, few remain; seven in England and Scotland of about fifteen worldwide. [46]
The Titan Clydebank is one of the 4 Scottish cranes on the Clydebank and preserved as a tourist
attraction.
Level luffing crane[edit]

Level luffing crane

Normally a crane with a hinged jib will tend to have its hook also move up and down as the jib
moves (or luffs). A level luffing crane is a crane of this common design, but with an extra
mechanism to keep the hook level when luffing.
Gantry crane[edit]

Gantry crane

For more details on this topic, see Container crane.

A gantry crane has a hoist in a fixed machinery house or on a trolley that runs horizontally along
rails, usually fitted on a single beam (mono-girder) or two beams (twin-girder). The crane frame is
supported on a gantry system with equalized beams and wheels that run on the gantry rail,
usually perpendicular to the trolley travel direction. These cranes come in all sizes, and some
can move very heavy loads, particularly the extremely large examples used in shipyards or
industrial installations. A special version is the container crane (or "Portainer" crane, named by
the first manufacturer), designed for loading and unloading ship-borne containers at a port.
Most container cranes are of this type.
Deck crane[edit]

Deck crane

Located on the ships and boats, these are used for cargo operations or boat unloading and
retrieval where no shore unloading facilities are available. Most are diesel-hydraulic or electric-
hydraulic.
Jib crane[edit]

Jib crane

A jib crane is a type of crane where a horizontal member (jib or boom), supporting a moveable
hoist, is fixed to a wall or to a floor-mounted pillar. Jib cranes are used in industrial premises and
on military vehicles. The jib may swing through an arc, to give additional lateral movement, or be
fixed. Similar cranes, often known simply as hoists, were fitted on the top floor of warehouse
buildings to enable goods to be lifted to all floors.
Bulk-handling crane[edit]

Bulk-handling crane

Bulk-handling cranes are designed from the outset to carry a shell grab or bucket, rather than
using a hook and a sling. They are used for bulk cargoes, such as coal, minerals, scrap metal
etc.
Loader crane[edit]

Loader crane using a jib extension

A loader crane (also called a knuckle-boom crane or articulating crane) is a electrically powered

articulated arm fitted to a truck or trailer, and is used for loading/unloading the vehicle. The
numerous jointed sections can be folded into a small space when the crane is not in use. One or
more of the sections may be telescopic. Often the crane will have a degree of automation and be
able to unload or stow itself without an operator's instruction.
Unlike most cranes, the operator must move around the vehicle to be able to view his load;
hence modern cranes may be fitted with a portable cabled or radio-linked control system to
supplement the crane-mounted hydraulic control levers.
In the UK and Canada, this type of crane is often known colloquially as a "Hiab", partly because
this manufacturer invented the loader crane and was first into the UK market, and partly because
the distinctive name was displayed prominently on the boom arm. [47]
A rolloader crane is a loader crane mounted on a chassis with wheels. This chassis can ride on
the trailer. Because the crane can move on the trailer, it can be a light crane, so the trailer is
allowed to transport more goods.
Stacker crane[edit]
Stacker crane

A crane with a forklift type mechanism used in automated (computer

controlled) warehouses (known as an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS)). The
crane moves on a track in an aisle of the warehouse. The fork can be raised or lowered to any of
the levels of a storage rack and can be extended into the rack to store and retrieve product. The
product can in some cases be as large as an automobile. Stacker cranes are often used in the
large freezer warehouses of frozen food manufacturers. This automation avoids requiring forklift
drivers to work in below freezing temperatures every day.