You Say You Want a Revolution... the Beatles

Let’s face it, the EOT Bridge Crane world is not exactly a Silicon Valley innovation juggernaut. I’ve been involved in Overhead Cranes since my first Summer job at Dearborn Crane in 1966 and over all those years we’ve only seen one real revolution. Variable AC controls, and those took about 20 years to fully get traction.

Come to think of it, when designing this website, I used a treasure trove of early 20th Century pictures that highlight the “Golden Age” of the mechanical era and the Overhead Bridge Crane in particular. Well hold on to your hat because the first revolution of the 21st Century is about to make itself known. Like all revolutions, many of the old timer’s will scoff and swear it will never happen, but I promise you it will and it’s going to be sooner rather than later.

So what is this revolution?

The Revolution Has Already Begun

Well… not exactly plastics, but synthetic fiber rope. Yes, fiber rope in place of wire rope for lifting. Fiber rope is already being used by mobile crane manufacturers such as Liebherr Cranes. Take a look at the Liebherr web page below. Remember, this is for lifting on a construction site, not exactly a delicate environment.

Fiber rope for mobile cranes is already here as can be seen on the Liebherr website.

It’s Not Just Mobile Cranes

Further evidence of this upcoming revolution is that several European hoist manufacturer’s already have a fiber rope hoist on the market. Not the least of which is our industries’ 800 lb. gorilla, Kone Cranes. It should be noted that to date, the upper capacity limit on fiber rope hoists has hit a ceiling at 6.6 tons, but the fact of the mater is, the economics get better and the capacity is increased.

Sorry, this is only a screenshot of the Kone video, it therefore will not stream by clicking the above button.

This is probably a long way of saying, the revolution is about to hit, and I for one want to be on top of it. I’ve been engaged by a US company to research the viability of synthetic fiber rope electric hoists as a replacement for wire rope, both from an application and economic point of view.

As a result, I’m hoping anyone out there that has experience with fiber rope lifting both here and around the world, both mobile cranes and EOT Overhead Bridge Cranes would either call or send me an email regarding your experience.

Contact Me

My contact info is:

Larry Dunville
574-210-8612 (please limit calls to between 8 am and 7 pm, MST)
Larry@OverheadCraneConsulting.com

I look forward to hearing from you and will be reporting my findings on this blog.

Thanks