Cranes are believed to have been in use as early as 3000 BCE. The earliest of them, called ‘shadoof’, were used to lift water from lakes and rivers for irrigating farmlands in Egypt. It consisted of a pole with a bucket on one end that was counterbalanced on a fixed support.
The Simple Crane
In its simplest form, a crane consists of a lever and a pulley.
Cranes at a fixed angle, with a single arm, were used in the early days to lift heavy loads. These days, modern cranes that can work from a few...
https://www.marineinsight.com/naval-architecture/types-of-port-cranes/