Material Handling Equipment: GOLIATH CRANE / GANTRY CRANE

• These cranes are essentially the same as the regular overhead cranes except that the bridge for carrying the trolley or trolleys is rigidly supported on two or more legs running on fixed rails or other runway. These “legs” eliminate the supporting runway and column system and connect to end trucks which run on a rail either embedded in or laid on top of the floor.

A gantry crane has a hoist in a trolley which runs horizontally along gantry rails, usually fitted underneath a beam spanning between uprights which themselves have wheels so that the whole crane can move at right angles to the direction of the gantry rails. These cranes come in all sizes, and some can move very heavy loads, particularly the extremely large examples used in shipyards or industrial installations.