Hospital saves money with Anthony

The Dravosburg, Pennsylvania, branch of Anthony Crane in the USA was brought in to support Pittsburgh's power and industrial contractor, McKamish Inc, to remove old HVAC units from the rooftop of the Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh using its new Terex AC 250-1 all terrain crane.

Ron Shearer, account manager and crane specialist at Anthony Crane, said, “The building was 157 feet (47.9 metres) tall, and we had to reach 40 ft [12.2 m] over the rooftop. There were a number of picks to be made, of which the heaviest weighed approximately 15,000 pounds [6.8 tonnes].”

Typically, Anthony Crane would enlist a high capacity all terrain crane with a luffing jib and full counterweight due to the height of the building and the radius required to perform the lifts. Work area confinements, however, did not allow the assembly of the luffing jib for the crane, so only the main boom could be used.

Andrew Longacre, Anthony Crane GSP, said, “The crane had to be set up in a loading zone to eliminate lifting over the occupied portions of the hospital. The work area was extremely small and there was a sky bridge we had to work around that did not allow assembly of inserts or luffing jib.”

Anthony Crane’s 300 US ton (250 tonne) capacity Terex AC 250-1 all terrain crane gave the combination of power, main boom length and compact carrier size to efficiently handle the picks at Allegheny General Hospital.

David Naab, Terex Cranes regional business manager, said, “The AC 250-1 crane is one of the most compact six-axle cranes on the market and offers the most compact outrigger base and tail radius work area in its class. Yet it has a 262 ft [80 m] main boom, which is exactly what Anthony Crane needed for this project.”

The crane and four truckloads of counterweight and supporting equipment made the short trip from its Dravosburg yard to the hospital. Once on site, the operator took advantage of the crane’s all-wheel steering to maneuver it into the cramped loading zone staging area. In less than two hours the crane was rigged and ready for the lifts.

By using the AC 250-1 with only the main boom, the project saved more than US$ 12,000 compared to using a crane with a jib, the company said.