U.S. Premiere for the WOLFF 700 B in San Francisco

A new attraction is rising on the San Francisco skyline in the form of the 802-foot-tall (244 m) skyscraper 181 Fremont Street. But the construction site is already an attraction now, with a brand new WOLFF 700 B luffing jib crane drawing attention to itself since the beginning of the year. The WOLFF 700 B was bought by the crane rental company Maxim Crane Works L.P. and rented to the general contractor, Level 10 Construction, specifically for this project. It is the first of its kind in the United States and stands for the launch of a new generation of high-performance, fully electric WOLFF luffing jib cranes on metropolitan high-rise construction projects in the U.S.

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The project required a crane with very high lifting capacities covering a wide working radius and fast line speeds, while at the same time being as space-saving as possible. In search of the right crane, Maxim Crane Works struck gold with the traditional German crane manufacturer WOLFFKRAN. The WOLFF 700 B luffing jib tower crane, first manufactured in 2010 and since tried and tested on construction sites around the world, fulfilled all technical demands made by the contractor, Level 10 Construction. Following an intense collaboration between all three involved parties during the planning phase, the WOLFF 700 B finally set off on its journey from the production facility in Heilbronn, Germany to San Francisco late last year, where it has been in operation since mid-January.

Unrivalled strength on a very slender tower

The WOLFF 700 B impresses with a maximum lifting capacity of up to 110,230 pounds (50 t) in 3-fall operation and a maximum tip load capacity of 36,380 pounds (16.5 t) at a jib radius of 164 feet (50 m).The heaviest lift on the site is a mega support column weighing just over 100,000 pounds set at a 46 foot radius. But the crane also has to handle heavy loads further out due to the exoskeletal design of the high-rise using heavy steel support columns on all six corners of the building.

Despite its remarkable power the WOLFF 700 B stands on a surprisingly slender tower, with section dimensions of only 7 feet 7 inches, allowing for transport on regular trailers without any special road permits required.

State-of-the-art technology for more efficiency and safety

Despite its lifting capacity and remarkable hoisting speed of up 623 ft/min (190 m/min), the WOLFF 700 B requires less power than you would think. The fully electrically operated crane is equipped with a stepless frequency controlled drive, making it a true leader in terms of energy efficiency, both compared to electric cranes without FC drives and even more so compared to diesel-powered cranes. Needless to say, the comparatively low noise emissions and complete absence of pollution are of undisputed value in densely populated urban areas.

Equipped with the latest crane controls as standard the WOLFF 700 B boasts an extensive range of efficiency and safety features, such as automatic adjustment of all drives, recognition of output reserves, horizontal level luffing, slack rope monitoring, and comprehensive self-tests to support the driver to name just a few. It also includes the WOLFFKRAN patented, semi-automatic re-reeving mechanism which significantly facilitates switching between the 1-, 2- and 3-fall operation.

WOLFF 700 B – at home downtown

For a crane of this size category, the WOLFF 700 B also stands out in terms of its compact design and maneuverability, which is another big plus point on the 21,528-square-foot (2000 m²) plot in the densely built SoMa district. Of particular mention is its short counter jib with only 25 feet 3 inches. Originally developed for the installation of wind turbines, WOLFFKRAN now fits the 700 B with the short counter jib as standard, allowing for an even closer positioning of the crane to the building.

But the WOLFF 700 B is also space saving during the crane assembly. Thanks to WOLFFKRAN’s patented design of the counter jib, individual component weights can be kept low and smaller mobile cranes used for the assembly. Further, the pre-assembly of crane components before their arrival on the site significantly reduces assembly time, which in turn keeps road closures to a minimum. The 700 B on the 181 Fremont construction site was completely assembled in just three days.

The WOLFF 700 B will be climbed externally alongside the building to a final tower height of 764 feet (233 m). Despite this remarkable tower height, the crane will only be tied to the building ten times, thanks to the extremely sturdy, but comparatively slender 7 foot 7 inches (2.3 m) WOLFF HT 23 tower sections.

American way of WOLFF

It is not just the compact design and high load capacity though, that make this luffing crane the ideal workhorse for US high-rise construction sites. It offers practically all features required by the US market, such as secondary brakes for the hoisting and luffing gears or the option of adding an auxiliary winch and hoist. The crane is compliant with the American ANSI standard for tower cranes and only minor modifications need to be made to the electrical system to adapt it to the American UL standards.

WOLFFKRAN builds presence in the U.S. market

With Maxim Crane Works, one of the nation’s leading crane rental companies operating throughout the country, WOLFFKRAN has a strong partner at its side for the introduction of the WOLFF 700 B into the US market along with general contractor Level 10 Construction. In the end, the combination of state-of-the-art engineering »Made in Germany« paired with expert crane service by an experienced and established local rental company fulfilled the unique requirements at 181 Fremont.

The WOLFF 700 B in San Francisco only marks the beginning of WOLFFKRAN’s expansion in the US market though. In spring this year, WOLFFKRAN Inc., founded in the summer of 2014, has officially opened its doors just outside Manhattan, to provide a comprehensive range of crane services, support and supply of spare parts for customers in the New York area, where a brand new WOLFF 355 B (smaller version of the 700 B) has just been erected at the WTC 3 site. A new chapter in the success story of the red WOLFFs in the land of opportunity has only just begun.