Lifting beam explained

The lifting beam (also known as traverse, spreader beam) is a steel beam that is attached to the hook of the crane in order to spread the slings from one end of an elongated load (like a wall panel) to another. The bottom of the beam has multiple connection points for hanging the load.

The lifting beams are used in multiple cases:

• lifting an asymmetrical load. Without a beam, it might be hard to strap the load so that its center of gravity is exactly below the hook;
• handling a long load with a single-hook crane. Sufficient spread between the slings prevents the load from slipping out;
• increase the headroom: slings cannot be stretched close to the horizontal direction, so attaching them directly to the hook requires a minimum distance from the hook to the load. When the lifting beam is used, the slings can be shorter, providing more vertical clearance during lifting;
• if the attachments of the load are on its vertical sides, the slings have to go over the edges of the load, which can damage these edges. A lifting beam allows attaching slings to the side lugs without touching the edges;
• the top of the beam can have two attachment points at the ends thus allowing two cranes to share the load.

See also

• Container spreader

Sources

• Book: Gorse, C. . Johnston . D. . Pritchard . M. . A Dictionary of Construction, Surveying, and Civil Engineering . OUP Oxford . Oxford Paperback Reference . 2012 . 978-0-19-953446-3 . 2024-05-05.
• Book: Kulweic, R.A. . Materials Handling Handbook . Wiley . A Wiley-Interscience publication . 1991 . 978-0-471-09782-2 . https://books.google.com/books?id=8Rn72t-L_g8C&pg=PA525 . en . 2024-05-05 . 525-526 . Lifting beam .
• Book: Zhu, Changbiao . Miao. Wenfeng . Xu. Kun . Mei. Xiao . Li . Changbin . Handbook of Port Machinery . Springer . Singapore . 2024 . 978-981-99-4848-2 . https://books.google.com/books?id=zl78EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA813 . 2024-05-05 . Lifting Attachments of Cranes . 745-844 . 10.1007/978-981-99-4848-2_8.