Morris wins special crane orders in USA

Morris Material Handling/P&H is building a 260/150/25 US ton-capacity (236/136/23t) hot ladle crane for Nucor Steel’s casting plant in Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA. The CMAA Class F severe duty crane will be used to transport ladles of molten steel from the meltshop floor to the continuous caster turret and is needed to help meet increased productivity needs. The crane will span 75 ft (23m), weigh 700,000 lbs (317t) and run on rails 85ft (26m) above the floor.

The crane will be controlled by a cab and by a radio remote control and have a control house for ease of maintenance. The new crane will have over 1,700HP in total and will be the largest AC Ladle crane operated by Adjustable Frequency Control in the United States, Morris says.

The crane joins a 225 US ton-capacity crane installed in 2001 and a 175 US ton-capacity charge crane in 2003.

It is also supplying 29 cranes in Chicago Tube and Iron’s new steel service centre in Romeoville, Illinois, USA. All the 16 overhead cranes, of 5 US ton and 10 US ton capacity, are double-girder with spans over 60ft (18.3m) rated for CMAA Class D duty and variable-frequency drives. The 13 jib cranes are 1,000 lb and 2,000 lb capacity. The complete order includes training by the P&H Institute and a service and inspection package. Founded in 1914, Chicago Tube and Iron has eleven steel service centers handling any size and shape of steel tube.

It has also supplied four 20-ton (18t) capacity Hevi-Lift hoists for a dam in Washington state, USA. The four units, which are mounted inside the turbine discharge tube on a circular monorail system, were required to lift a hydroelectric turbine ring, the key to the efficiency of the new turbines being installed at this dam.

Morris designed a Smartorque control system and supplied software to link the four units and provide load weight and fault information feedback. The operator’s remote control displays this information.

The turbine ring job is increasing power output from 120,000HP to 160,000HP and will make the water intake pipes safer for fish.