Crane Hot Line is part of the Catalyst Communications Network publication family.
A couple of weeks ago, I ran across a Facebook post that led me to information about lifting devices that ancient builders used to construct pyramids, bridges, aqueducts, churches and other structures composed of massive and ponderous stones.
Those lifting machines were perhaps not as efficient and sophisticated as today’s cranes, but how clever were the people who conceived such creative solutions to challenges that must have looked insurmountable!
Imagine the creativity and understanding of geometry and physics it took to dream up the first crane without ever having seen one before.
One of the sites with some of this info is Buffalo as an Architectural Museum (buffaloah.com).
It shows a drawing of what it believes to be the world’s first crane, which it says was invented by the Greeks in the sixth century B.C.
Although it was not mobile, was made largely of wood and was likely constructed for a specific project, that early beast has many of the same elements as today’s cranes: a pendant-supported boom, a winch-driven hoisting system and a multi-pulley lifting block.
I suppose that stands to reason, since gravity, geometry and physics are the same now as they were then.
One interesting development I came across during my follow-up searches were treadwheel-powered cranes, reportedly popular in Europe during the Middle Ages.
Lifting power for those rigs came from a person or people walking on a huge wooden wheel — like a waterwheel or hampster wheel.
The mechanical advantage of the large-circumference wheel turning a smaller spindle or drum, coupled with the mechanical advantage of a block-and-tackle, delivered the lifting power to hoist heavy loads for construction or material handling.
There are lots of other resources for information about ancient cranes on the internet.
You can find them easily by searching for “ancient cranes,” “history of construction cranes” or something similar on your favorite search engine.
I find it fascinating that — as advanced, powerful and efficient as today’s modern cranes are — they still address basic needs and physical rules that are thousands of years old.
Blog Lists Construction Trends from 2024-2027
Looking at the Exploding Topics blog (explodingtopics.com), I came across a report listing 11 construction trends to watch from 2024 to 2027.
The list, published in May of this year, includes trends that range from the expected growth of virtual construction to the ways smart (virtually connected) cities will affect construction.
Although many of the topics do not seem to relate directly to the lifting industry, a couple certainly do.
One of the listed trends that caught my attention is the expected continued growth of modular construction, in which most of a structure’s components are built before they’re brought to a jobsite and put into place.
The report says that the global modular construction market was worth about $91 billion as of 2022, and is expected to grow to $120.4 billion by 2027.
The blog also says that general contractors, architects and developers are finding that prefabrication and modular construction helps keep costs low, shortens construction time and reduces waste.
It seems reasonable to assume that if modular construction grows, the need to lift larger and heavier components will create increasing demand for cranes that can lift more while reaching higher and farther.
That could be interesting for the industry.
Another trend the blog mentions is the increasing use of drone technology.
It cites information from a company named DroneDeploy which estimates that drone usage has significantly cut down on the annual $160 billion in waste that occurs on construction sites.
The blog says that using drones to measure stockpiles of building materials in real time has increased measurement accuracy by 61%.
According to the Exploding Topics piece, many in the industry hope that drones will significantly reduce construction worker injuries and deaths.
In the U.S., 20% of workplace deaths occur in the construction industry – an industry that only makes up 6% of the U.S. labor force, according to the report.
Using drones enables construction companies to survey and inspect locations without putting humans in harm’s way.
As a result of drone technology, the construction industry has seen a 55% increase in safety standards, the report says.
Related to cranes, some inspectors are now using drones to examine cranes when site conditions prevent the boom from being lowered to the ground.
And in lift planning, drones’ camera and measurement capabilities are so strong that crane positionining and clearances can be calculated to fractions of an inch.
In a less critical application, drones now give us aerial photos of cranes at work that were rare just a few years ago.
Before that, the only way to get high-angle photos of cranes making lifts was to get up on a taller crane or high building, or to rent an airplane or helicopter.
I can foresee drone technology playing an ever larger role in the industry during the coming years.
