For decades, crane engineers have created new markets with incremental changes to their tried-and-tested lifting systems. However, the ongoing quest to make heavy-lift cranes more powerful and efficient regularly comes down to one problem: counterweights. Essentially giant slabs of metal, counterweights keep the crane from tipping over but are costly to transport, difficult to move, add ground pressure and take up valuable real estate.
"The goal has always been designing lifting-enhancing devices to get you more capacity with your basic crane," explains one veteran crane engineer. "The struggle is to get what you can from mobility." Manufacturers continue to find clever solutions to the counterweight crux.