A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist rope, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It is mainly used for lifting heavy objects and transporting them to other places. The device uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of a human. Cranes are commonly employed in transportation for the loading and unloading of freight, in construction for the movement of materials, and in manufacturing for the assembling of heavy equipment.
A dragline excavator is a piece of heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining.
A tow truck is a truck used to move disabled, improperly parked, impounded, or otherwise indisposed motor vehicles. This may involve recovering a vehicle damaged in an accident, returning one to a drivable surface in a mishap or inclement weather, or towing or transporting one via flatbed to a repair shop or other location.
The Saipem 7000 is the world's third largest semi-submersible crane vessel, after the SSCV Sleipnir and the SSCV Thialf. It is owned by the oil and gas industry contractor Saipem S.p.A.
A gantry crane is a crane built atop a gantry, which is a structure used to straddle an object or workspace. They can range from enormous "full" gantry cranes, capable of lifting some of the heaviest loads in the world, to small shop cranes, used for tasks such as lifting automobile engines out of vehicles. They are also called portal cranes, the "portal" being the empty space straddled by the gantry.
A landship is a large vehicle that travels exclusively on land. Its name is meant to distinguish it from vehicles that travel through other mediums such as conventional ships, airships, and spaceships.
A crane vessel, crane ship or floating crane is a ship with a crane specialized in lifting heavy loads, typically exceeding 1,500 t for modern ships. The largest crane vessels are used for offshore construction.
The Euclid Company of Ohio was a company that specialized in heavy equipment for earthmoving, namely dump trucks, loaders and wheel tractor-scrapers. It operated in the US from the 1920s to the 1950s, when it was purchased by General Motors. It was later purchased by Hitachi Construction Machinery.
The Big Blue was a Lampson LTL-1500 Transi-Lift heavy lift crawler crane that collapsed on July 14, 1999, killing three iron workers.
A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be handled by normal ships. They are of two types:
Ruston-Bucyrus Ltd was an engineering company established in 1930 and jointly owned by Ruston & Hornsby based in Lincoln, England and Bucyrus-Erie based in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the latter of which had operational control and into which the excavator manufacturing operation of Ruston & Hornsby was transferred. The Bucyrus company proper, from which the Bucyrus component of the Ruston-Bucyrus name was created, was an American company founded in 1880, in Bucyrus, Ohio.
A Fairbairn crane is a type of crane of an 'improved design', patented in 1850 by Sir William Fairbairn. There are numerous hand-powered versions around the world and one surviving steam-powered example in Bristol Docks, England.
Manitowoc Cranes is a division of The Manitowoc Company, Inc. Manitowoc Cranes produces five brands of cranes: Grove, National Crane, Shuttlelift, Manitowoc, and Potain. In addition, Manitowoc has two distribution businesses based in the U.S.: Aspen Equipment and MGX Equipment Services.
Tadano Ltd. is the main and largest Japan-based manufacturer of cranes and aerial work platforms, considered one of largest crane manufacturers in the world.
Liebherr is a German-Swiss multinational equipment manufacturer based in Bulle, Switzerland, with its main production facilities and origins in Germany.
Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co., Ltd. is a Chinese multinational state-owned heavy machinery manufacturing company with headquarters in Xuzhou, Jiangsu. Founded in 1989, XCMG currently ranks first in the Chinese construction machinery industry, 3rd in the world, 4th in China's top 100 machinery enterprises, and 409th in the world's top 500 brands. Recently the company has taken over Schwing GmbH. Schwing a German manufacturer of mobile and stationary concrete pumps and truck mixers, headquartered in Herne, as well as the parent company of Schwing Stetter, based in Memmingen. The business group is the world's second largest concrete pump manufacturer, behind Putzmeister, another German manufacturer and subsidiary of the Sany Group.
American Crane Corporation is an American manufacturer of construction cranes based in Wilmington, North Carolina. It manufacturers lattice boom crawler cranes with capacities ranging from 50 to 275 tons. The American Crane Corporation was founded in 1882 as the Franklin Manufacturing Company, and in 1892 the name changed to American Hoist & Derrick. The company manufacturers terrain cranes, crawler cranes and tower cranes. In 1998 American Crane Corporation was acquired by Terex for $27 million. The purchase of American Crane Corporation brought Terex a manufacturer of lattice boom cranes.
Sarens is a Belgian multinational company headquartered in Wolvertem, Belgium. Its business includes, heavy lift, engineered transport, and crane rental services. It produces a variety of equipment including cranes, transportation, gantries, jacking products, and other heavy lifting products.
A ring crane is a form of large construction crane with a luffing jib. It is distinguished by its slew pivot being in the form of a ring-shaped track, rather than a narrow central spindle. The broad base this gives to the slewing section above allows it to slew whilst carrying extremely heavy loads.
SSCV Sleipnir is a semi-submersible crane vessel (SSCV) owned and operated by Heerema Marine Contractors. It is named for Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse ridden by Odin in Norse mythology. The vessel is equipped with two revolving cranes built by Huisman Equipment B.V., each with a capacity of 10,000 t ; the main cranes can be operated in tandem to jointly lift 20,000 t. It was ordered in 2015 and built in Singapore by Sembcorp Marine. After its completion in 2019, SSCV Sleipnir succeeded Heerema's earlier SSCV Thialf as the largest crane vessel in the world.
