Masonry Magazine April 1992 Page. 18
RT Cranes-A Better Mousetrap?
The use of a rough terrain crane can be a cost effective alternative to rough terrain forklifts or materials hoists on certain building projects.
HERE ARE DIFFERENT types of equipment available to the masonry contractor for handling masonry materials on the job. The most common piece of equipment used is the forklift, especially the rough terrain type.
The rough terrain forklift comes in sizes up to a ten ton lift capacity. It's available with telescoping booms or vertical masts. The telescoping boom is the most popular because it has greater horizontal reach for placing brick, block or mortar, on the building's upper floors. The forklift can place the materials on scaffolding even if it is not standing near the side of the building because of its forward reach.
The limiting factor for forklifts is the maximum lift height, which doesn't exceed fifty-eight feet. This limits its practical use to buildings five to six floors or less. If the contractor does most of his work within this size of building, the rough terrain forklift is a good choice.
A very popular system for handling materials, for constructing higher buildings, is the use of a materials hoist. It's usually installed on the side of the building and has virtually no limit to the building's height it can serve. This is accomplished by stacking sections of the hoist on top of each other and anchoring them to the building's wall.
Material hoists don't come cheap. Most contractors rent them, as needed, from specialty companies, who not only rent the hoist but install and tear them down.
Two Pittsburgh masonry contractors prefer to use hydraulic rough terrain cranes, on some projects, as opposed to either rough terrain forklifts or material hoists. The Cost Corporation people like cranes so much that Corky Cost, president, has recently purchased two new Tadano hydraulic rough terrain cranes. The other contractor, a minority owned partnership, Franco, also owns a new Tadano rough terrain crane.
Cost is one of the larger masonry contractors in the northeastern part of the United States. The company employs 200 to 250 skilled and semi-skilled people. While most of the company's work is in Pennsylvania, Cost also takes on projects in the surrounding states.
Most of the work is laying brick and block for projects such as prisons, college dormitories, hospital additions, commercial buildings and multi-story, multi-family dwellings. "We do many eight to twelve story buildings, so the crane is ideal for our type of work," says Tony DeChellis project executive manager for Cost.
On buildings up to thirty-five feet, DeChellis says they used Loed rough terrain forklifts because they are most cost efficient. But instead of renting material hoists for the taller buildings, up to twelve floors, the rough terrain cranes are used.
The larger capacity of the two Tadano cranes owned by the company has a lift capacity up to thirty-five tons. It has a full power boom that can extend from its retracted length of 29.9 to 93.8 feet. The boom has three extendable/retractable sections, powered by two double acting hydraulic cylinders plus an extension cable and retraction cable.
ONE OF FRANCO'S TADANO TR 350 XL hydraulic rough terrain cranes used by the Cost Corporation, Pittsburgh contractor, to supply bricklayers on his bigger, five to twelve stories high projects. This crane has a lift capacity up to thirty-five tons, with a full power boom that can extend from its retracted length of 29.9 to 93.8 feet. By adding a stowaway jib to the boom, a maximum boom/jib length of 135.8 feet is possible.