The hydraulic truck crane is a specific mobile crane that uses hydraulic power to raise and move thousands of pounds. Hydraulics makes use of forces being transmitted through oil pushing on the boom's pistons in opposite directions in order to lift thousands of pounds. Hydraulic truck cranes are important in building major projects like airports, bridges, streets and buildings. A crane could complete in minutes tasks which will normally take hundreds of men and a lot of hours to complete.
These impressive machines have played a very important part in building cities, houses, entire nations and individual buildings throughout the ages. Even the Great Pyramids within Egypt were probably built utilizing basic cranes to enable the heaviest materials in one of the most remarkable construction projects ever.
The very first cranes were established in 3000 B.C. Egypt during the reign of King Ramses. This lifting mechanism was first utilized to collect water. The first official "cranes" appeared in Ancient Greece. These mechanism were utilized to build a whole nation throughout the 5th century B.C.
These cranes were initially made out of wood. The designs of cranes began to change when dockyards began to need stronger and bigger machines. Hick & Rothwell designed the very first cast iron cranes in the year 1834, within Bolton, England. This equipment could lift up to 2 tons. That very same year, wire ropes were added to the crane by Herr Albert Sr. who was an Official of the German Superior Board. The wire rope made the crane more durable and stronger. This addition enabled cranes to have a bigger capacity for lifting heavy weights.
Eventually, the wire ropes were weaved together to be able to form an even more powerful strength. This wire formation also brought the added advantage of flexibility. Germany began to make cast iron cranes 4 years later. The very first cast iron crane built by Germany was built in Neuburg.