Patent ID: 8678209

Claim:
An improved gantry lifting system, comprising: at least two pairs of upright support columns arranged to define corners of a rectangular area; a pair of parallel crane runways spanning each of said pair of columns, said runways being attached to the tops of each pair of columns; wherein each of said runways, comprises an upward opening C-shaped channel in which an end truck is constrained and travels along the length of the channel, said C-shaped channel including at least five sides and four interior angles, and a truss reinforcement attached to a back side of said C-shaped channel, said reinforcement including, in conjunction with said channel, a pair of linear chord members interconnected by a plurality of struts; a movable bridge member perpendicular to and spanning a distance between the pair of runways, said bridge member being slidably connected to the runways by the end trucks operatively positioned within said C-shaped channels to permit the ends of the bridge member to move along a path defined by the respective runways; and a slidable connection attaching a first end of the bridge member to the first of the pair of end trucks and a fixed connection attaching a second, opposite, end of the bridge member to the second of the pair of end trucks.