How are Tower Cranes Erected?

If you’ve ever seen a tower crane at a construction site then you are bound to have wondered how they made something like that. How does one build a tower crane? Do they use a larger tower crane to build the smaller ones? Then how did they build the largest one? The answer is actually a bit simple and ingenious but it’s easy to see why most people don’t know it.

The answer is actually in two different ways. One ways is to literally use a bigger crane to build the smaller one. Cranes come in different parts, in steel ‘blocks’ which are erected upon each other and are bolted down. This is a very simple way and is how tower cranes have been built for a very long time.

However, like in every other industry, cranes have also seen a lot of innovation. The new thing which is being used nowadays are self-erecting tower cranes. These are cranes which have the ability to erect themselves! Basically there is a mechanism inside them which allows them to build the next block which needs to be built. The advantage of these blocks is that it allows people to create large tower cranes without needing to use any other tower crane.