There are three basic types of workstation cranes:
- JIB CRANES
- MONORAIL CRANES
- BRIDGE GANTRY CRANES
These cover the least to most amount of area respectively. All types can either be mounted directly to an existing building structure such as the roof or the wall, or can be freestanding, meaning they have a support frame that is attached to the floor.
JIB
A traditional jib crane consists of a long jib arm that pivots at one end.
A jib crane is ideal for stationary work when something simply needs to be moved from one spot to another. Examples of this include packing finished materials into boxes, moving a product out of one machine and into another or lifting a product onto and off a work bench.
MONORAIL
A monorail crane is a single rail or beam. This system is used to move products in a continuous line. It can cover a much longer distance than a jib crane, which is limited by its arm length.
This type of crane is useful to move products along a single path. If something simply needs to be moved from one end of a factory to the other, a monorail is the ideal crane.
GANTRY
A gantry crane consists of a bridge between two side rails in an 'H' shape. In some cases, these can be designed with more than a single bridge. The bridge travels along the side rails while the lifting device travels along the bridge rail.
This type of crane can also be used to move products from one point to another, but can cover a much larger area than a jib crane and a wider area than a monorail. A gantry crane could be used to load or unload trucks or move products in an out of multiple machines.
When considering the purchase of a crane, make sure to take into account what needs to be moved where and the possibility of growth.
|
