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Crane truck lifting cargo from its hook beside a building frame, outriggers planted firmly on the ground. A construction page, free as a PDF.
Printable sheet
Free for personal and educational use
Download PDFPrintFour-axle truck with a telescopic boom, hook lifting a slung pallet, outriggers down, scaffolding, a building frame and clouds.
Color the boom yellow and the hook red so they stand out.
Build a mini crane with a stick, string and a paper clip and lift something light.
Cranes are named after the long-necked bird, and the Spanish word for crane means both too.
A crane truck lifting cargo shows strength under careful control. This kind of vehicle carries a full crane on a truck chassis, so it can drive to the site on regular roads, set up in minutes, lift whatever is needed and head off to the next job.
Its boom is telescopic: several tubes slide out of each other like a spyglass, pushed by hydraulic cylinders. The longer it stretches and the lower it leans, the less it can lift. That is why every crane has a load chart showing what is safe in each position, and onboard computers now sound an alarm before a limit is reached.
Before lifting anything, the truck sets out its outriggers, legs that press into the ground and brace it like a tripod. The load is wrapped with slings, straps or chains hooked to the block, and it must be balanced so it does not spin or tilt.
The operator often cannot see the load clearly, so a signal person guides them with hand signals or by radio: raise, lower, swing or stop. While anything is hanging in the air, nobody walks underneath.
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