Northwest Engineering, a U.S. crane manufacturer fitted its first crane on crawler tracks in the 1920s. The company referred to its new machine as a “locomotive crane", transportable via its own power and without of tracks. By the middle part of the 1920s however crawler tracks became the preferred way to move heavy cranes.
The twentieth century introduced the crawler tractor, along with the release of crawler tracks for the construction and agricultural industries. At some point crawler tracks were used by excavators, further showcasing their versatility. Before long crane manufacturers also jumped into the crawler track method because they filled a very important need; easier transport.
Crawler cranes travel on crawler tracks, like crawler tractors except, because of their heavy weight, they move slowly. Crawler cranes are available with telescopic arm, making it easier to extend using hydraulics (the world's very first all hydraulic crawler crane was manufactured and designed by a company in the UK; HYMAC LIMITED out of Rhynmey Wales.), and/or a lattice boom, that is manually assembled, adding multiple segments. Usually, the crane is powered by 1 engine, controlled by 2 or more cable run drums.
There are numerous crawler crane parts on the market today from used and reconditioned equipment spare parts for the principal range of NCK and RB machines as well as stock parts for various other popular models including the following:
