Cranes: Design, Practice and Maintenance

This book looks at all types of cranes and deals with container and
grab unloader cranes in some detail.
The objective has been to give a general overview of this very wide
subject and then to provide positive, practical guidance to anyone
involved in the design, specification, selection, or operation and maintenance
of cranes.
A crane is often a very large and complex piece of equipment and
this book analyses many of the individual components and design features
that can be found on a typical crane. Components such as brakes,
wire ropes, electrical drive systems, automatic sensors, wheels, rails,
buffers, cable reels, festoons, hoppers, overload preventers, and anticollision
systems are discussed in some detail along with advantages
and disadvantages of various component types. This book also shows
how to correctly ‘size’ and calculate a number of these components.
Furthermore, various design features and preferred solutions are discussed
such as the effect of wind on cranes, design standards, welding
methods, structural design and fatigue calculations and, finally, maintenance.
Anyone involved in crane specification, selection, operation, and
maintenance should find the level of detail invaluable when considering
potential problem areas, especially some of the ‘rule of thumb’ recommendations.
Crane manufacturers facing problems of detail design will
find this book useful in understanding the overall background and
environment in which cranes work.