The Manitowoc Company, Inc.

Manitowoc Crane Group, LLC

John M Lanning

Terry L Petzold

Jeffery L Dreger

A ring-supported lift crane is provided with a counterweight handling system to facilitate repositioning of the crane. The ring-supported crane includes a ring, a crane upper works and a crane lower works, a boom supported on rollers on the ring and a counterweight assembly also supported on rollers on the ring. The counterweight assembly preferably includes a counterweight carrier on which at least one stack of counterweight boxes or units are placed. A counterweight holder is interposed between the at least one stack of counterweight units and the counterweight carrier with a friction reduction device, such as rollers or slider pads, interposed between the counterweight holder and the counterweight carrier. When the ring-supported crane is to be repositioned for a second lift at a construction site, the counterweight holder with the stack of counterweight units is moved off of the counterweight carrier onto a separate counterweight support member, which may be mobile or stationary. This speeds up the relocation process, as the counterweight units do not have to be individually unstacked before the ring and crane can be moved.

Counterweight handling system for ring supported cranes

A method and apparatus for self-assembling and self-disassembling a large capacity crawler crane. The method uses the load hoist line of a crane to remove the equalizer from the boom. The method also uses a hydraulic cylinder to support, raise and lower the boom after the equalizer has been removed from the boom. Finally, the boom butt can be disassembled into several parts.

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Cato, WI, United States of America

John M Lanning