Human-powered cranes and lifting devices

Education Science
Human-powered cranes and lifting devices

tubular-crane.jpg

Gareth and I share an affection for Kris De Decker’s Low-tech Magazine, which, per its masthead, “refuses to assume that every problem has a high-tech solution.” Like its content, its style stands in refreshing contrast to the frenetic pace of the modern blogosphere: Low-tech updates only once or twice a month, and those updates are lengthy, well-written, well-illustrated, and carefully researched.

They just put up a great article about the machines people used to lift and move heavy loads before the advent of steam power. Arguably the pinnacle of human-powered lifting technology were Sir William Fairbairn’s hand-cranked “Tubular Cranes,” one of which is shown above as illustrated in Fairbairn’s 1860 Useful Information for Engineers, Vol. 2:

Hence the advantage gained by the gearing will be W/P = 18 x 63.75 x 80 / 6 x 8 x 12 = 158 or taking the number of cogs in each wheel W/P = 18 x 95 x 100 / 12 x 9 x 10 = 158 and as this result is quadrupled by the fixed and moveable pulleys, the power of the men applied to the handles is multiplied 632 times by the gearing and blocks. Two men are sufficient to move round the crane with 60 tonnes suspended from the extreme point of the jib.

Check out the whole article here.

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4 thoughts on “Human-powered cranes and lifting devices

  1. anachrocomputer says:

    There’s a photo group on Flickr for Fairbairn cranes:

    http://www.flickr.com/groups/fairbairncranes/

    We have a Fairbairn Steam Crane here at the harbourside in Bristol (UK), and it is regularly steamed up and operated. In fact, it’s a Scheduled Ancient Monument, still in full working order!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheduled_Ancient_Monument

  2. Namban says:

    That blog/magazine is now, thanks to my beloved Make, one of the absolute coolest things I’ve ever found on the internet.

    The whole concept of using low-tech, no circuits, just pure, raw math and mechanics, was what the world was about until electricity came about.

    As a manual and CNC machinist, I love what tech can do- the CNC part is amazing. But the raw math and simple movement of manual machining links me to the love and awe of what is possible by sheer math and hand. To see what’s still able to be done by men without circuits- it’s inspiring, beautiful, elegant, genius.

    Thank you!

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I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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