Cranes Articles

SmartCrane Leads the Fight Against Swaying →

SmartCrane, a division of Hampton, VA-based Daniel H. Wagner Associates Inc. (DHWA), has created software that automates the acceleration of crane trolleys in order to prevent cargo from swaying. In July, SmartCrane signed a five-year contract with Mannesmann Dematic AG Gottwald to supply software for its line of Mobile Harbour Cranes. In the interim, the company is seeking investors and venture capital firms to supply $2 to $3 million to branch off from DHWA. Click for more...

Grove Crane Puts on Some Weight to Reach Higher →

Grove Crane is now offering an additional 2,000-lbs. (907 kg) counterweight for the TMS540 and ATS540 truck cranes. This counterweight increase in these 40-ton (35 t) units from 6,000 to 8,000 lbs. (2,722 to 3,620 kg) provides up to a 20-percent increase in lifting capacity in various areas of the main boom load chart. Both models can be equipped with either a 90-ft. (27 m) three-section or 115-ft. Click for more...

Cargill’s E-Crane Off to Flying Start →

The Cargill Fertilizer facility at Port Cargill in Savage, MN, needed to reduce operating costs and increase the volume handled by its barge off-loading operation. A conventional cable crane and rope operated bucket had been the off-loading method at the facility for years, but increasing safety concerns, repair costs and poor reliability made it clear that a change was needed. Ricky Carlson, North American operations and engineering manager of Cargill Fertilizer explained, “The E-Crane is a key piece of equipment in the improvement of our Port Cargill facility. Click for more...

Grove Provides Precise Control On or Off-Road →

The Grove GMK5120B all-terrain crane was introduced just a few months ago. The 120-ton (100 t) unit with a five-section 167-ft. (51 m) boom, and with lattice boom extensions, has a maximum tip height of 288 ft. (88 m). The Megaform Twin-Lock boom system and the ECOS electronic crane operating systems provide fast setup. The ECOS system assists the operator in main boom extension by controlling the sequence of the un-pinning, telescoping, and repinning of the boom sections. Click for more...

Grove Saddles Up TMS700E, Takes 2,400 Mile Road Trip →

Demo ride? Sure, take it out for a spin. How about Shady Grove, PA to Orlando, FL and back with a few stops along the 2,400 mile route. That’s just what Grove did to introduce its TMS700E Series mobile hydraulic truck mounted crane. Parts of the crane had already been through extensive testing, but it’s a truck crane and truck cranes travel on the road, so the company thought it would give it a good run. Click for more...

Kobelco CK2500 Boom Crane Hoists Productivity With Strength, Agility →

Kobelco America Inc. has extended its line of hydraulic lattice boom crawler cranes with the introduction of the 250-ton (225 t) CK2500. It features strong lifting capabilities, exceptionally long reach, and a short swing radius. These features make the crane extremely productive, even in close quarters. Kobelco’s new CK2500 crane also is designed for fast and economical transport. It quickly erects and disassembles on site with no assistance. Click for more...

Link-Belt Beefs Up Carrier Features on HC-238H II →

Link-Belt introduced the new HC-238H II 150-ton (136 t) capacity lattice boom truck crane during the CraneFest 2000 show at its Lexington, KY, manufacturing facility. This first public appearance of the newest member of the Hydraulic Lattice Boom (HYLAB) family included a demonstration of the crane’s features and benefits including walking with the new luffing attachment. The HC-238H II joins the 200-ton (180 t) HC-248H and the 300-ton (272 t) HC-278H in the series of HYLAB Series of lattice boom truck cranes. Click for more...

Manitowoc’s MAX-ER Picks Up the Pace With Increased Travel Ability →

Manitowoc Cranes Inc., Manitowoc, WI, has announced a new MAX-ER 2000 attachment that dramatically increases the lifting capability of its 300-ton (272 t) model 2250 crane and offers improved set-up time. The new MAX-ER 2000 improves on the capacity and reach offered by its predecessor, the MAX-ER 225. Other important features of the MAX-ER 2000 include increased luffing-jib capacities; improved set-up time; the ability to travel with any lifted load; modules that can be transported easily by truck; the versatility of several combinations of booms, fixed jibs, and luffing jibs with total lengths to 620 ft. Click for more...

Shawmut Leans on GMK5210 →

The Grove GMK5210 all terrain crane is the flagship of the fleet for Shawmut Crane & Rigging Company of South Boston, MA. They use it as a taxi crane and a recent typical day had it working in Lowell, MA, lifting three air conditioners to the roof of a 200-ft. high building. For this job, the main boom was fully extended to 197 ft. (60 m) and the 98-ft. (29.8 m) luffing jib was adjusted to a 20-degree offset. Click for more...

Kobelco CK850 Crawler Crane Hoists Heavy Loads Sky High →

Kobelco America Inc. improves its line of hydraulic lattice boom crawler cranes with the introduction of the new 85-ton (77 t) CK850 crane. It features strong lifting capacities, wet-type disc brakes, and a long reach. Kobelco’s CK850 crane has a 213-hp (158 kW) Mitsubishi 6D16-TLED diesel engine. This six-cylinder engine, with a 460 cu. in. (7,538 cu cm) displacement, is water-cooled, fuel-injected, intercooled and turbocharged to deliver lifting and traveling power. Click for more...

Link-Belt Takes Booms to the ’A-Max’ →

Link-Belt Construction Equipment Company recently introduced the RTC-8060, a 60-ton (54.43 t) telescopic rough-terrain crane. Boom Design The RTC-8060 features a standard 35.5 to 110 ft. (10.82 to 33.53 m), full power, quick-reeve four- section boom with a maximum tip height of 172 ft. (52.43 m), with attachments. The boom features two Link-Belt exclusive boom designs — the “A-Max,” mode for optimum strength and stability charts and the “BOSS.” For in close, big picks, the “A-max” mode (or mode A) allows the operator to extend only the inner-mid section of the boom to maximize the crane’s optimum strength and stability. Click for more...

Manitowoc 2250 Supercharges Power Plant Construction →

A Manitowoc 2250 crawler crane is playing a powerful role in the construction of an 800-MW co-generation power plant in Sayreville, NJ. During the construction, the crane will lift components that weigh up to 300,000 lbs. for Midwest Mechanical Contractors of New Jersey Inc., who is installing the heat recovery steam generators or HRSG. The crane will lift the 150-ft.-long by 30-ft.-wide by 85-ft.-high HRSG during the yearlong contract to build the Red Oak Co-Generation Plant. The 2250 was selected for its exceptional lifting capacity and versatility, according to Dan Kearney, vice president/operations manager, Midwest Mechanical. Click for more...

Steffy Cranes Reaches New Heights With Grove Crane →

Steffy Cranes, Ephrata, PA, is taking its customers to new heights with the help of Grove Cranes and L.B. Smith Inc., Camp Hill, PA. Steffy Cranes recently purchased a Grove GMK 5210, the largest unit of this crane rental house, to meet the growing needs of its customers. The history of Steffy Cranes Inc. is traced to Ira G. Steffy & Son’s first crane purchase in 1985 for steel erection. Four cranes later, in 1988, Steffy Cranes was incorporated. Business continued to grow and in 1992, the company purchased its 120-ton Grove hydraulic crane. Click for more...

Seventeen Cranes Hoist Big-I Sky High Above New Mexico →

Progress, many locals will tell you, doesn’t always steamroll its way into New Mexico. No wonder there is widespread amazement with the rapidly changing landscape at Albuquerque’s “Big-I.” On any given day, up to 17 cranes stretch skyward. Their work began in June 2000, but they’ve already made quite an impression on Duke City residents. The Big-I is where east/west Interstate-40 intersects north/ south Interstate-25. Click for more...

Greystone Plant Jacks Up for Quick, Easy Relocation →

Producers can eliminate sand-hauling costs with the highly-mobile Aggre-Washer and Screening Plant manufactured by Columbus, Nebraska-based GreyStone Inc. The portable Aggre-Washer and Screening Plant can be relocated and ready for processing fine materials in a single production shift by folding down the feed hopper and removing the blocking. GreyStone has five portable models with horizontal screens to choose from and also manufactures 10 semiportable models with horizontal or incline screens. Click for more...

MoDOT, Contractors Cap Decades of Planning With Bold $550M Overhaul →

Three decades in the planning and the subject of a ballot initiative, the Page Avenue extension is a Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) project that is adding a fourth bridge across the Missouri River. At an approximate cost of $550 million, the Page Avenue extension is a 20-mi. (32 km) project connecting Interstate 270 in St. Louis County to Route 40/61 in St. Charles County. MoDOT will extend the existing road from where it ends at Bennington Road in Maryland Heights through Creve Coeur Park and across the Missouri River into St. Click for more...

Cranes Crowd Sky Above Charleston →

Historic Charleston, SC, nicknamed “The Holy City” because of the many churches that still dominate its skyline, may soon have to be renamed “Tower City.” Tower cranes have rarely been seen in the historic district because height requirements designed to preserve the 18th century ambience prohibit high rises. But with available building sites becoming fewer and often inaccessible to conventional equipment, local contractors are turning to tower cranes to get the job done. Click for more...

Link-Belt Unit to the Rescue! RTC Answers Emergency Calls →

Most electrical power plants, such as the Fayette Power Project in LaGrange, TX, have been on-line for more than 20 years and must be constantly upgraded to comply with newer, more stringent anti-pollution requirements. This is a challenge for many plant operators. The old plants are often being asked to produce more and cheaper electricity at a time when they must frequently be off-line to perform vital preventive maintenance or rehabilitation procedures. Click for more...

Gelder Brings Half Century of Experience to Raleigh Streets →

Spring came early to North Carolina, and crews of Gelder and Associates Inc. got a quick start on a summer-long project to repave 170 streets in Raleigh. The veteran paving company won a NC Department of Transportation and city contract to rework and resurface streets in every district of Raleigh. Rains in April caused some early disruption of the work. But the next month, temperatures were unseasonably warm and the asphalt was being laid in mid-summer conditions: hot and fast. Click for more...

J&J Truck Equipment Named Top Auto Crane Distributor →

J&J Truck Equipment, a division of Somerset Welding and Steel Inc., recently announced that it has been named the top distributor of Auto Crane service bodies, cranes, and compressors by the Auto Crane Company. The Presidential Award for outstanding achievement was given in recognition of J&J Truck Equipment’s excellence in sales for 1999. The award was presented by Alan Marsh, regional sales manager of the Auto Crane Company. Click for more...

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