crane industry news

The driver of the truck crane involved that ran through a set of traffic lights in Tampa on September 16th, crashing into a bus and a sheriff’s car, seriously injuring a deputy, has been cited for ‘running the light’ and having faulty service brakes.

Portugal-based Montalgrua reached a milestone when it installed the 1,000th Enercon wind turbine in Portugal. Montalgrua used one of its Liebherr LR 1400/2 crawler cranes to mount the turbines on top of their towers at the T. Vetras park about 50 km from Lisbon.

Maeda USA will display five fully compliant mini-cranes with new attachments at the ConExpo show in Las Vegas, 22-26 March, 2011. All Maeda mini-cranes meet ASME and EPA requirements for North America.

Manual lubrication of wire ropes via the drip, brush, spatula or rubber glove method has always been a difficult and time consuming maintenance task. Typically messy asphaltic or “blackjack” type products are employed which have coating abilities but very little lubrication or penetration properties – the core of the rope is therefore not lubricated.

The crane must be shut down when wind speeds at its upper reaches hit 35 mph, although it also can be shut down in lesser winds if the operator thinks conditions warrant. Cold weather alone, however, won’t stop work through the winter on what Rinner calls the Statehouse’s “drum” — the area above the roofs of the building’s four wings and below the copper dome.

The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) now offers a free mobile app for instantly accessing all necessary crane hand signals. The new app is available in the iTunes App Store and Blackberry App World. Every signal included is compliant with the new OSHA Cranes and Derricks Standard, Appendix A to Subpart CC of Part 1926-Standard Hand Signals.

When the crane was first invented (that would be around the time of the Ancient Greeks), it wasn’t very easy to move around. The whole practical application of the early crane was basically rooted in the idea that a solid stationary point could provide a fulcrum for applying an upward lifting force: which is why we see the anchor holes for static cranes in the front of the remains of Ancient Grecian temples and villas.

Manufacturers from outside India are making forays into a market traditionally dominated by a particular type of pick and carry crane. Times are changing and opportunity is rife.

Although it will be some time before the pick and carry crane is eclipsed as the most common type in India, the market is moving slowly towards models found in foreign markets.

A mobile crane removing a concrete bridge girder goes over due to soils sluffing off down a hill. The soils are non-native and even though they used matting, you should have some sort of reinforcement to prevent the soils from moving when on a hill like this. (Click on picture to view video.)

A crane has fallen into a drainage channel in Cambridgeshire, UK today killing the operator. The accident happened on a riverside track off the A142 at Mepal, halfway between Ely and Chatteris. The crane a small crawler crane with dredging bucket, slipped in when it slipped off of the timber track it was working from.