
An overhead crane, commonly called a bridge crane, is a type of
crane found in industrial environments. An overhead crane consists of two parallel
rails
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
* Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' (1967 fi ...
seated on longitudinal
I-beam
An I-beam is any of various structural members with an - (serif capital letter 'I') or H-shaped cross section (geometry), cross-section. Technical terms for similar items include H-beam, I-profile, universal column (UC), w-beam (for "wide flang ...
s attached to opposite steel
column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...
s by means of
brackets
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...
. The traveling bridge spans the gap. A
hoist, the lifting component of a crane, travels along the bridge. If the bridge is rigidly supported on two or more legs running on two fixed rails at ground level, the crane is called a
gantry crane
A gantry crane is a Crane (machine), crane built atop a wikt:gantry, 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 wor ...
(USA, ASME B30 series) or a ''goliath crane'' (UK, BS 466). Another variant is the ''semi-goliath crane'', where one fixed rail is at ground level, and the other fixed rail is overhead, commonly used along the exterior of an existing building.
Unlike
mobile or construction cranes, overhead cranes are typically used for either manufacturing or maintenance applications, where efficiency or downtime are critical factors.
Single Girder Overhead Crane
The single girder type overhead crane is the most common overhead crane. It is generally used for light applications, normally up to 10 tonnes.
Double Girder Overhead Crane
The double girder overhead crane structure is used for heavier applications up to 125 tons and reaching over 100 feet of span. It can also be used to gain lifting height because the hoist of the double girder overhead crane is placed on the beams and the hook fits between them.
Suspended Overhead Crane
The rails of a suspended overhead crane are secured to the ceiling of the building. The elimination of dedicated support columns provides additional floor space, but limits lifting capacity.
History
In 1876
Sampson Moore in England designed and supplied the first ever electric overhead crane, which was used to hoist guns at the
Royal Arsenal
The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is an establishment on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, that was used for the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, proof test, proofing, and explosives research for ...
in
Woolwich, London. Since that time Alliance Machine, now defunct, holds an AISE citation for one of the earliest cranes in the USA market. This crane was in service until approximately 1980, and is now in a museum in
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
. Over the years important innovations, such as the Weston load brake (which is now rare) and the wire rope hoist (which is still popular), have come and gone. The original hoist contained components mated together in what is now called the built-up style hoist. These built up hoists are used for heavy-duty applications such as steel coil handling and for users desiring long life and better durability. They also provide for easier maintenance. Now many hoists are package hoists, built as one unit in a single housing, generally designed for ten-year life, but the life calculation is based on an industry standard when calculating actual life. See the Hoists Manufacturers Institute site for true life calculation, which is based on load and hours used. In today's modern world for the North American market, there are a few governing bodies for the industry. The Overhead Alliance is a group that represents
Crane Manufacturers Association of America, Hoist Manufacturers Institute, and Monorail Manufacturers Association. These product counsels of the Material Handling Industry of America have joined forces to create promotional materials to raise the awareness of the benefits of overhead lifting. The members of this group are marketing representatives of the member companies.
Early manufacture
* 1830: First Crane company in Germany, Ludwig Stuckenholz company.
* 1840:
Mass production
Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines ...
of overhead cranes starts in Germany.
* 1854: Sampson Moore & Co in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, England patents a new
winch
A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension (physics), tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable").
In its simplest form, it consists of a Bobb ...
mechanism that allowed the lifting of heavier weights (such as naval guns) by an
electric motor
An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...
.
* 1861: The first
steam powered
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
overhead crane is installed by
John Ramsbottom at the
Crewe Railway workshops. Power was transmitted to the crane from a
pulley
Sheave without a rope
A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft enabling a taut cable or belt passing over the wheel to move and change direction, or transfer power between itself and a shaft.
A pulley may have a groove or grooves between flan ...
driven by a stationary engine through an endless cotton rope.
* 1887: The Ludwig Stuckenholz company introduces electrical components to overhead cranes, determining industry design.
* 1910: The first mass-produced electric motor hoist starts in Germany.
Configurations:
While sharing major components, overhead cranes are manufactured in a number of configurations based on applications.
EOT (Electric Overhead Traveling) Crane
EOT cranes are a common type of overhead crane. They are found in many factories and warehouses. These cranes are electrically operated by a control pendant, radio/IR remote pendant, or from an operator cabin attached to the crane.
File:Woman driving 20 ton O.E.T. crane (15402565322).jpg, A woman operating a 20-ton EOT crane, 1914
File:Submarí Ictineu 3 col·locat sota un pont grua.JPG, An EOT overhead crane is used to move and build this submersible
A submersible is an underwater vehicle which needs to be transported and supported by a larger ship, watercraft or dock, platform. This distinguishes submersibles from submarines, which are self-supporting and capable of prolonged independent ope ...
, the '' Ictineu 3'', in a warehouse
A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...
of Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Spain.
File:Essais de charge.jpg, alt=, A VFD crane currently performing a load test
File:Pont Roulant Simple Poutre.jpg, alt=, An overhead crane using a lifting beam for a customized application
Rotary overhead crane
This type of overhead crane has one end of the bridge mounted on a fixed pivot and the other end carried on an annular track; the bridge traverses the circular area beneath. This offers improvement over a
jib crane by making possible a longer reach and eliminating lateral strains on the building walls.
Polar crane
This type of overhead crane has both ends of the bridge mounted on an annular track. The bridge runs to entire diameter of the track, as opposed to just the radius for a rotary crane. Polar cranes are commonly used in
containment buildings at nuclear power stations, fitting their circular, steam pressure containing design.
Applications
Overhead cranes are commonly used in the
refinement of steel and other metals, such as copper and aluminium. At every step of the manufacturing process, until it leaves a factory as a finished product, metal is handled by an overhead crane. Raw materials are poured into a
furnace by crane, hot metal is then rolled to specific thickness and
tempered or
annealed, and then stored by an overhead crane for cooling, the finished coils are lifted and loaded onto trucks and trains by overhead crane, and the
fabricator or stamper uses an overhead crane to handle the steel in his factory. The
automobile
A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...
industry uses overhead cranes to handle raw materials. Smaller
workstation
A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or computational science, scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating syste ...
cranes, such as jib or
gantry crane
A gantry crane is a Crane (machine), crane built atop a wikt:gantry, 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 wor ...
s, handle lighter loads in a work area, such as
CNC mill or saw.
Almost all
paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...
s use bridge cranes for regular maintenance, needing removal of heavy press rolls and other equipment. The bridge cranes are used in the initial construction of paper machines because they make it easier to install the heavy cast iron paper drying drums and other massive equipment, some weighing as much as 70 tons.

Recently, overhead cranes have been used in the wind-power industry. Giant cranes such as this one are being used to build the world's longest wind turbines.
In many instances, the cost of a bridge crane can be largely offset with savings from not renting mobile cranes in the construction of a facility that uses a lot of heavy processing equipment.
Gallery
File:Bridge Crane with Wire Rope Hoist.jpg, Overhead crane and hoist mounted on a trolley that can be moved across the bridge beam
File:RvancoppSteamCrane1262010.jpg, alt=Example of steam powered overhead crane from 1875, produced by Stuckenholz AG, Wetter an der Ruhr, Germany. Design developed by Rudolf Bredt from an original installation at Crewe railway works, Example of steam powered overhead crane from 1875, produced by Stuckenholz AG, Wetter, Germany. Design developed by Rudolf Bredt from an original installation at Crewe railway works
File:Rotary foundry crane.jpg, alt=Rotary overhead crane installed in a foundry, ca. 1880, Rotary overhead crane installed in a foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
,
File:Steam travelling crane.png, alt=Steam-powered overhead crane from ca. 1890. Three separate, two-cylinder engines provided transverse, longitudinal, and hoisting motion; a feature of the design was the ability to raise or lower the load while in transit., Steam-powered overhead crane from . Three separate, two-cylinder engines provided transverse, longitudinal, and hoisting motion; a feature of the design was the ability to raise or lower the load while in transit.
File:STS-129 ExPRESS Logistics Carrier 13.jpg, One of two overhead cranes hoisting a space shuttle payload in the Space Station Processing Facility
The Space Systems Processing Facility (SSPF), originally the Space Station Processing Facility, is a three-story industrial building at Kennedy Space Center for the Manufacturing of the International Space Station, manufacture and Process manufac ...
See also
*
Container crane
A container crane (also container handling gantry crane or ship-to-shore crane) is a type of large dock (maritime), dockside gantry crane found at container terminals for loading and unloading intermodal containers from container ships.
Containe ...
*
Crane (railroad)
*
Gantry crane
A gantry crane is a Crane (machine), crane built atop a wikt:gantry, 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 wor ...
*
EOT crane
References
Standards
* ASME B30.2: "Overhead and Gantry Cranes (Top Running Bridge, Single or Multiple Girder, Top Running Trolley Hoist)"
* ASME B30.17: "Overhead and Gantry Cranes (Top Running Bridge, Single Girder, Underhung Hoist)"
* ASME B30.11: "Monorails and Underhung Cranes"
* BS 466: "Specification for Power driven overhead travelling cranes, semi-goliath and goliath cranes for general use" (1984)
* ISO 4301-5: "Cranes; classification; part 5: overhead travelling and portal bridge cranes" (1991)
* ISO 8686-5: "Cranes; design principles for loads and load combinations; part 5: overhead travelling and portal bridge cranes" (1992)
* Indian Standard – 807
* Indian Standard – 3177
* Indian Standard -4137
* FEM 1.001: "Rules for the Design of Hoisting Appliances"
External links
OSHA Regs for overhead cranes
{{Authority control
Cranes (machines)