Crane

Crane, machine designed to lift loads and move them horizontally. Despite their great variety, all cranes have certain features in common: a winding mechanism, or winch, to operate a rope (usually of steel wire), attached to a pulley block on which there is a hook to pick up the load. In some cranes the rope is looped over a pulley at the top of a boom or jib; in others it is suspended from a horizontal beam or girder.