How does someone operating a large crane on a construction see where they are putting their load? Are there cameras helping the person see where they are coming things?
In: Engineering
Crane operators may have cameras, but they will definitely have spotters. It’s a spotters job to coordinate the movements of the crane operator.
Some tower cranes have cameras attached to the trolley (the part that “zooms” up and down the boom.) All crane operators are “controlled” by a bellman/signaler. They’re essentially the ones telling the crane operator to boom up or down, line up or down, spin etc. They’re the eyes and ears for the operator and they completely control where and how to load moves from point A to point B.
Even if they can see the load they still need some one on the ground or at an edge to signal them. It can be done by either voice (radio) communication, or by hand signaling. The same people are rigging and disconnecting the load.
Tower Crane basic commands are:
trolley in / trolley out, which moves the load closer to or away from the tower.
Line in / Line out, which will raise or lower the the load
Swing (direction) typically cardinal directions are used for precise placement
Take it high or clear means they can raise the load with no obstructions, and move it the next area/load
Mobile Cranes have a boom that raises and lowers and can telescope in and out, instead of trolley in/out you use boom up/down and boom in/out since changing the boom angle will change the height of the load you can additionally say boom up and hold the load, meaning the crane will raise the boom, as well as line down to hold the load at the same height off the ground
I work offshore and the crane operator will follow the directions of a banksman. This guy will give hand or radio signals to the crane op explaining where he needs to move the load, so he doesn’t need to directly see the load, just the signals from the banksman
Latest Answers