The History and Development of Tower Cranes

The production and application of tower cranes in my country has a history of more than 50 years, and has gone through a process from surveying and imitation to self-design and manufacturing.

In the 1950s, in order to meet the needs of national economic construction, tower cranes from the former Soviet Union and some Eastern European countries were introduced and imitated. In 1954, the architect-type tower crane designed by the former Democratic Republic of Germany was imitated, and the first TQ2-6 tower crane in my country was successfully trial-produced in Fushun. Subsequently, 15t and 25t tower cranes were developed based on the former Soviet Union prototype. During this period, the number of tower cranes produced and used in my country was relatively small.

In the 1960s, my country began to enter the stage of self-design and manufacturing tower cranes. In 1961, the Hongqi-II tower crane was first successfully trial-produced in Beijing, which was also the earliest tower crane designed by my country. Subsequently, my country designed and manufactured tower cranes such as TQ-6 by itself. By 1965, there were more than 10 manufacturers in the country, producing more than 360 tower cranes. These tower cranes are all down-slewing jib type, which can be towed as a whole and meet the needs of civil construction below six floors.

Since the 1970s, due to the needs of construction, my country's tower cranes have entered a new stage of technological improvement and increased variety. In 1972, my country's first down-slewing light tire-type rail dual-purpose crane came out; in the same year, my country designed and manufactured the QT4-10 self-erecting tower crane, which has a lifting torque of 1600kN·m. During this period, ZTl00, ZTl20, Z80 and other trolley-type self-erecting tower cranes, QT4-20 trolley-type internal climbing tower cranes, QTLl6, TQ40, TQ45, TD25, QTG40, OTG60 down-slewing jib self-erecting quick-installation tower cranes, etc. were developed successively. The annual output was as high as more than 900 units, marking a new stage for my country's tower crane industry.

In the 1980s, many new tower crane products appeared in my country, including self-erecting tower cranes such as QTSOA, QTZl00, QTZl20, bottom-slewing quick-install tower cranes such as QT60, OTK60, OT25HK, and OT90 top-slewing jib-lifting tower cranes. The performance of these products is close to the level of foreign countries in the 1970s. The highest annual output during this period reached 1,400 units. At the same time, with the increase of reform and opening up and international technical exchanges, in order to meet the needs of construction, some tower cranes were also introduced from abroad, including products from Liebherr in the former Federal Republic of Germany, Potain in France, and Edilmac in Italy. As these tower cranes have good manufacturing quality and advanced technical performance, they have greatly promoted the progress of the design and manufacturing technology of tower crane products in my country.

After entering the 1990s, my country's tower crane industry entered a new period of prosperity with the increase of construction tasks across the country. The annual output has soared year by year, and some products are exported abroad. The total number of tower cranes in China has also increased from dozens in the 1950s to about 60,000 in 2000. So far, my country can be regarded as a big country in tower cranes, whether measured from the perspective of production scale, application scope or total number of tower cranes.