The New and Proven Concept in Unloading

E-Crane® is providing the solution to difficult problems in offloading bulk materials in seaports and river ports throughout the world. Dedicated systems for offloading coal, limestone and other bulk materials are costly, inflexible and require a dedicated infrastructure that is expensive to buy and maintain.
Modified excavators converted to material handlers are another approach. But offloading facilities at seaports and river ports can be seriously hampered by fluctuations in water level due to tides, river flooding and other seasonal water level ups and downs. Thus, a long range of motion is mandatory to cope with these changes. The long downreach combined with a fixed counterweight limits productivity under these conditions for fixed counterweight machines.
E-Crane® (equilibrium crane) offers a unique material handler with a moveable counterweight and fixed parallelogram linkage than can provide up to 150ft/50m reach and up to 49 tons duty cycle capacity. It provides the fastest, easiest lowest-cost-per-ton method of unloading bulk materials from barges and up to and including panamax vessels. Further, with the E-Crane® modular design, each E-Crane® is tailored to meet the customer’s specific needs and preferences. On lowers such as pedestal, rail, crawler or barge mounts.
With the E-Crane® ideally suited to for this type of bulk material handling, E-Cranes are successfully replacing lattice boom and other cable cranes, self-unloading barges, excavators and other devices in ports around the globe.
E-Crane’s unique parallelogram system keeps the crane in near balance throughout its full working range. It makes gravity work for you instead of against you, reducing horsepower requirements and power consumption by up to 50%. Hydraulic control over all machine movements results in short cycle times.
E-Crane’s positive grab control provides operational precision, push-down force and overall productivity with very little clean up needed. The grab is hydraulically controlled, not cable suspended. Thus, the grab can be accurately positioned for material pickup and can provide push-down force at up to 50% of lift force to break up lumpy, sticky and frozen material. Hydraulic control over all machine movements provides short duty cycle times.
The roomy, quiet, air-conditioned cab provides excellent visibility and simple operation with two joysticks, thus reducing operator fatigue and increasing productivity. The E-Crane is much easier to operate than cable cranes and does not require special operator abilities or experience.
Maintenance is simplified with a central lubrication system and accessible hydraulics. An Electronic Machine Management (EMM) CAN BUS system provides for simplified wiring, remote diagnosis and problem-solving, and the ability to tailor the E-Crane to operator preferences.
Source: Waterways Journal April 2008, issue 7