Hydraulic truck cranes are a specific type of mobile crane. These cranes make use of hydraulics and could lift thousands of pounds. Hydraulics uses 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 very important in building major projects like for example airports, bridges, buildings and roadways. A crane could complete in minutes jobs which will normally take hundreds of men and many hours to complete.
These remarkable machines have played a very important part in building houses, cities, individual buildings and entire nations throughout the ages. Even Egypt's Great Pyramids were probably built utilizing basic cranes to enable the heaviest materials in one of the most amazing construction projects of all time.
The first cranes were established during 3000 B.C. Egypt during the reign of King Ramses. This lifting mechanism was initially utilized to collect water. The first official "cranes" appeared in Ancient Greece. These devices were used to build a whole nation during the 5th century B.C.
These cranes were originally made out of wood. The designs of cranes began to change when dockyards started to require stronger and bigger machinery. Hick & Rothwell developed the first cast iron cranes in Bolton, England, in 1834. This machine was capable of lifting as much as 2 tons. That 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 allowed cranes to have a bigger capacity to lift heavy weights.
Ultimately, the wire ropes were weaved together to be able to form an even more powerful strength. This wire formation also brought the added benefit of flexibility. 4 years later, Germany started to build cast iron cranes. The first cast iron crane made by Germany was made in Neuburg.