Ma Bell Utility Pole Climbers/Gaffs

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jerryd6818
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Re: Ma Bell Utility Pole Climbers/Gaffs

Post by jerryd6818 »

Pole line was part of the training in Construction Electrician school at the Seabee base at Port Hueneme, CA. The training was broken up into theory, structure wiring, motor-generators, multi-pair cable splicing and pole line (not in that sequence).

We learned how to set poles and climb poles. One of our exercises was to climb a 100' pole, strap off and then play catch with a ball. If you missed it or dropped it you had to go down and get it and return to the top of the pole. David Bridges (from Texas) one of the six Marines in the class, gaffed out at about 8-10 feet up and his climber caught at about 2 feet up jerking his knee into the pole. He was walking wounded for a few weeks.

I never used any of that training during my enlistment. Out of school, I went from Port Hueneme to MCB 29 Palms where I ended up in a HAWK Missile Battery working as a diesel generator operator, changing oil and batteries. Bleh ::barf:: Was only there for about 3 months before extending my enlistment for a year in order to go to Basic Electronics School at MCRD San Diego. One of the best things I ever did!!
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New_Windsor_NY
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Re: Ma Bell Utility Pole Climbers/Gaffs

Post by New_Windsor_NY »

eveled wrote:I don’t want to sidetrack the thread but I was reminded of a picture I saw in a museum in DC. It shows the climbers in use. The picture won the Pulitzer in 1968. When I saw the pictures I was moved to tears. The man survived.
They appear to be electric/power company workers because of the transformer mounted on the pole and the lack of a phone terminal. The two wires that are near the one worker's waist ARE telephone wires. They are called "drop wires" or "drop service wires." They would bring the dial tone from the pole mounted, serving terminal, to your house or whatever structure had the phone service. It appears that in the picture, the serving terminal is somewhere down the street on a different pole because of the way the "drop wires" are placed or "running." In rural areas, it is not uncommon for the serving terminal to be a great distance away and many, many, many hundreds of feet of "drop wire" have to be placed to bring the dial tone to the customer. At that time it was one phone line "dial tone" per "drop wire." Today, when you look up and see the wires running between the poles, this is the pecking order. Telephone wires/cables are on the bottom, or the lowest. Next up is your cable tv wire/cable. Everything else above those two cables are low voltage and high voltage power lines. Sometimes there aren't three utilities using the pole(s), that would change the order. Of course there are many areas where the utilities are run underground, that's a whole different animal. Thank you for sharing the picture. I'm glad the worker survived.
::tu:: ::handshake:: Click to ENLARGE the picture.
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New_Windsor_NY
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Re: Ma Bell Utility Pole Climbers/Gaffs

Post by New_Windsor_NY »

jerryd6818 wrote:Pole line was part of the training in Construction Electrician school at the Seabee base at Port Hueneme, CA. The training was broken up into theory, structure wiring, motor-generators, multi-pair cable splicing and pole line (not in that sequence).

We learned how to set poles and climb poles. One of our exercises was to climb a 100' pole, strap off and then play catch with a ball. If you missed it or dropped it you had to go down and get it and return to the top of the pole. David Bridges (from Texas) one of the six Marines in the class, gaffed out at about 8-10 feet up and his climber caught at about 2 feet up jerking his knee into the pole. He was walking wounded for a few weeks.

I never used any of that training during my enlistment. Out of school, I went from Port Hueneme to MCB 29 Palms where I ended up in a HAWK Missile Battery working as a diesel generator operator, changing oil and batteries. Bleh ::barf:: Was only there for about 3 months before extending my enlistment for a year in order to go to Basic Electronics School at MCRD San Diego. One of the best things I ever did!!
Hi Jerry. We had the same exercise. Climb the pole, strap in and play catch. At our pole climbing school, all the poles were set in one particular area. That area was covered with wood chips that acted as a cushion for anyone who gaffed out and hit the ground.
I never had the "pleasure" of experiencing that sensation. :D
Kid: "Wish we had time to bury them fellas."
Josey Wales: "To hell with them fellas. Buzzards got to eat, same as worms."
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rarefish383
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Re: Ma Bell Utility Pole Climbers/Gaffs

Post by rarefish383 »

I'm 63 and retired too. I still have my Dad's Bashlin aluminum hooks with the longer tree gaffs. When he retired in 86, I kept using them until I got my left knee replaced 4 years ago. Got my right one replaced last year. Tried them on not long ago, and they felt pretty good.
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Re: Ma Bell Utility Pole Climbers/Gaffs

Post by rarefish383 »

Geeze, just wrote a big reply, added pics, hit submit, and every thing vanished. Will try the pics again.
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Re: Ma Bell Utility Pole Climbers/Gaffs

Post by rarefish383 »

For some reason it's only letting me post one pic at a time?
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Re: Ma Bell Utility Pole Climbers/Gaffs

Post by rarefish383 »

I had the story of my Dad in WWII as a line man, running line in the Sierra Madres on 70' spliced poles. Not going to redo the whole thing. He returned from the war and went back in the family Tree Business. He bought this set of hooks in the 60's. Sometime in the 70's he was blocking down a big Tulip Poplar, at an Historic House in Washington DC. There were gardens with Azaleas and Rhododendron over 100 years old, and we couldn't crush them. We were allowed to dig up one plant for a drop zone. Dad was pushing big blocks off the trunk when one of the hooks snapped in half. They were expensive, so he got a machine shop to heli arc them back together. They survived the rest of his career, until he retired in 86, then I used them into until a few years ago when I got my left knee replaced, Joe.

You can see the weld on the one hook.
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Re: Ma Bell Utility Pole Climbers/Gaffs

Post by Phaeton »

This takes me back. 1962, I was ten and my big brother and I were wearing what we called 'spurs' to climb the Cottonwood trees that had no branches for the first 15 feet. Thick bark and soft wood.
I was a dozen feet up when my feet gave way, the point had not penetrated the bark and pushed right through when pulling up the lower leg. Being young and light I managed to squeeze hard enough to stop the drop. No scars over four inches, stomach as well as inside the legs. I was lucky.
I did not quit using them, I just became much more cautious.
Ten year old's do not know the meaning of 'training', only really cool toys.
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