Some Equipment of the Past [Archive] - Powerlineman.com Forums

MI-Lineman

08-19-2010, 11:12 AM

COME ON GUYS THERE HAS TO BE SOMEBODY THAT HAS WORKED WITH OLD SHIT.
Hell I guess I have to take a picture of my line belt and safety to show yor the good olde days,

Never really took pictures? I didn't know that when I would come to the "POWER COMPANY" they'd have all this fancy sh!t? Hell you could post a pic of a sling rope and most of the guys here at the Co. would wanna take it to the Antiques Road Show!:D Damn shame how these guys will never see how easy it actually is with a set of 4 shivs, capstan, jobbers, and a pole dolly (and your tools of course!:o)!

climbsomemore

08-19-2010, 04:03 PM

Never really took pictures? I didn't know that when I would come to the "POWER COMPANY" they'd have all this fancy sh!t? Hell you could post a pic of a sling rope and most of the guys here at the Co. would wanna take it to the Antiques Road Show!:D Damn shame how these guys will never see how easy it actually is with a set of 4 shivs, capstan, jobbers, and a pole dolly (and your tools of course!:o)!

MI... I know for a fact that at least 50 of your late model JMEN have seen a new pole set from the old with 4 parts and a transformer gin... and at least as many have hung a pot using "manual methods" ....including the use of a pickup truck to pull the blocks.

I used to get my ass reamed by the "appretice commitee" for working these demos into the lesson plan...........

Me and Ed both rounded up all the yellow slings we had up in Midland... If you couldnt do "it" with a 8 foot rope sling... it did not get done.

God...how I (don't) miss that place! :)

climbsomemore

08-19-2010, 04:13 PM

YOUR Photo is Before my time... but the transmission at FPL, when I broke out, was mostly wooden "K" framing.... 2 poles about 11 feet apart... with a couple of 35' spars cris crossing ....outside phases hanging from the out board ends of the spars... center bundle hanging from a spacer block and hardware in the middle point were the spars crossed each other.

In theory... you could bust any member... and the sound parts would scissor againt each others to support what was left.

We had a lot of 138 and 69 built with timber cross arms (Figure 12 style poles) I did come across a square lattice style tower (more like an expanded metal deal) that must have been built as an experiment back in the 50's... they had 3 of this skinny little towers all guyed up swinging an angle back in the Everglades.

The little bit of steel we used was mostly Myers or Mono poles on the 500 kv... and I missed out on most of that stuff

Edge

08-19-2010, 07:15 PM

We had a lot of 138 and 69 built with timber cross arms (Figure 12 style poles) I did come across a square lattice style tower (more like an expanded metal deal) that must have been built as an experiment back in the 50's... they had 3 of this skinny little towers all guyed up swinging an angle back in the Everglades.

those are called guy or guyed masts bub... they first saw the light of day in the late 50's and into the early 60's and were used mainly for hard corners or transpositions...

and sorry Steve... I got very few pictures and I have no clue how to post them on here...

for what it's worth...

Edge

MI-Lineman

08-19-2010, 07:45 PM

MI... I know for a fact that at least 50 of your late model JMEN have seen a new pole set from the old with 4 parts and a transformer gin... and at least as many have hung a pot using "manual methods" ....including the use of a pickup truck to pull the blocks.

I used to get my ass reamed by the "appretice commitee" for working these demos into the lesson plan...........

Me and Ed both rounded up all the yellow slings we had up in Midland... If you couldnt do "it" with a 8 foot rope sling... it did not get done.

God...how I (don't) miss that place! :)

Uh? You might wanna name a few cause in Sagnasty and for sure Midland there sure as hell ain't any! For that matter when I hired in YOU and I discussed how this place wouldn't know what to do with a friggin rope! In fact Sagnasty ordered their first set of shivs when I was there and instead of gettin the opinion of someone who actually used them they ordered a set big enough to set Lady Liberty a companion!

Actually a 12' sling's gonna do ya more than an 8'! Unless you're used to settin mailbox posts? We always wrapped AT LEAST twice (but usually 3 times) and NEVER hooked the wrap with the square knot in it!

Where ever you worked here I might transfer to cause except for "book knowledge" I haven't been too impressed and maybe you don't remember the brief time we met but you didn't seem so either! We gotta new gas capstan in here damn near 8 months or so ago and so far they've only figured out how to get it out of the cardboard box but apparently not out of the boss's office!:rolleyes:

BTW now ropes are pulled off trucks and thrown away durin those "after hours" walk arounds by I don't no who but obviously not a Lineman cause they have know load rating tag! Can't use rope to lift with company rule so one mornin the rope becky I made (like the ones I made for a few of your "late models") was in the dumpster? I asked why to one of our former "Lineman" now supervisor and was told SLINGS were illegal!?!?!?:confused: After I showed him the OBVIOUS difference I asked him if I should throw the handline away too!:cool:

It's a different place now Cowboy!

BTW we didn't use them "fancy" transformer gins for settin poles? Don't know where you did it at but there wasn't no usin a gin to set a pole especially when butt settin'em!

Trbl639

08-19-2010, 11:54 PM

Posting pictures is easy. The hard part is down sizing them to 97.5kb or smaller, but that can be done with a photo shop program. To upload just click manage attachments and it opens a upload window hit the browse button and locate picture click on it and hit upload.If it is too big it will not upload and tell you so.

When this computer crap hit PAR, I didn't want any part of it. Cell phones I didn't want any part of it.

But when I went to work as the Kansas Safety Director for JF Electric I ended up with a desk with Docking station A Ford Explorer with built in GPS a Computer Docking Station , the third row seats laid down and a fully sized printer mounted, an AC/DC 4000 watt converter,one digital camera and a Dash mounted video camera. Last but not least two frigging cell phones. I had to learn computers. Some times I don't know how I do things, it just gets done.

The whole point of this post was not computers but just to state, that I don't remember when the pole pikes disappeared of line trucks and how hard it is to find a Banjo and spoon or rock bars on line trucks today.

When I left Entergy, most of the Banjo's and Spoons and X-frame cradles and Pike Poles were in the tool room at the big yard.......maybe!!! They had a clean-up at the small yard I worked out of...just me and another T-man...but we had a decent yard.......pulled in one afternoon to the dumpster to unload trash off the truck.......the 4 fiberglass pikes we had were laying in the bottom of it......cornered the storekeeper and he said a Supv chunked em...thought they belonged to the Tranny guys that kept some material and tools at our yard......he thought cause they were fiberglass, they had to be tested!!!
I started to pull em out, but said nope, when we need em, I'll say who chunked em!! Sure nuff about a month later we needed em, and I said I ain't got none anymore........told them who the stupid sob was that threw them away, he was standing right there......he didn't like it at all, I just told him I'd been waiting on the day to show how ignorant he really was!!! :D All the guys gave me a slap on the back!!! He called me the next day to see what to order to replace em!!

climbsomemore

08-20-2010, 03:20 PM

Uh? You might wanna name a few cause in Sagnasty and for sure Midland there sure as hell ain't any! For that matter when I hired in YOU and I discussed how this place wouldn't know what to do with a friggin rope! In fact Sagnasty ordered their first set of shivs when I was there and instead of gettin the opinion of someone who actually used them they ordered a set big enough to set Lady Liberty a companion!

Actually a 12' sling's gonna do ya more than an 8'! Unless you're used to settin mailbox posts? We always wrapped AT LEAST twice (but usually 3 times) and NEVER hooked the wrap with the square knot in it!

Where ever you worked here I might transfer to cause except for "book knowledge" I haven't been too impressed and maybe you don't remember the brief time we met but you didn't seem so either! We gotta new gas capstan in here damn near 8 months or so ago and so far they've only figured out how to get it out of the cardboard box but apparently not out of the boss's office!:rolleyes:

BTW now ropes are pulled off trucks and thrown away durin those "after hours" walk arounds by I don't no who but obviously not a Lineman cause they have know load rating tag! Can't use rope to lift with company rule so one mornin the rope becky I made (like the ones I made for a few of your "late models") was in the dumpster? I asked why to one of our former "Lineman" now supervisor and was told SLINGS were illegal!?!?!?:confused: After I showed him the OBVIOUS difference I asked him if I should throw the handline away too!:cool:

It's a different place now Cowboy!

BTW we didn't use them "fancy" transformer gins for settin poles? Don't know where you did it at but there wasn't no usin a gin to set a pole especially when butt settin'em!

Yea...after 10 years my head was flat on one side.

Tools and Methods was hinting to purge all that nasty rope from the system when I was there.

I aint suprised that some of those guys don't remember what they saw.... heck--- most of the folks I dealt with had a hard time with a square knot two days in a row.

I found a couple of those old gins in the old guard shack in Midland... no body knew what they were for. I figured using the gin to make a pick was probably safer than having em tie a sling on the head of a pole with a granny knot.

A few of those guys have seen a temp snub anchor improvised out of 2 frost bars and a hobble rope too. I liked to pull up two wires to sag using a leveling rig improvised out of a SR block and 30 feet of 3/4 inch rope....

Hey... I "warned" you when you came to the NEW HIRE ORIENTATION:D:

MI-Lineman

08-20-2010, 03:40 PM

Yea...after 10 years my head was flat on one side.

Tools and Methods was hinting to purge all that nasty rope from the system when I was there.

I aint suprised that some of those guys don't remember what they saw.... heck--- most of the folks I dealt with had a hard time with a square knot two days in a row.

I found a couple of those old gins in the old guard shack in Midland... no body knew what they were for. I figured using the gin to make a pick was probably safer than having em tie a sling on the head of a pole with a granny knot.

A few of those guys have seen a temp snub anchor improvised out of 2 frost bars and a hobble rope too. I liked to pull up two wires to sag using a leveling rig improvised out of a SR block and 30 feet of 3/4 inch rope....

Hey... I "warned" you when you came to the NEW HIRE ORIENTATION:D:

Actually that you did!! I'm stuck here now though!

We hung our block just below the secondary in Detroit which you know gives ya enough to pick the new pole just past balance where ya want it! JUST ENOUGH!! Too much sh!t any higher up (cans, primary, etc.) and more strain on the old one when they're raked hard one way or the other?:o

Sure would like to show'em a butt set on a rear lot double buck with a 50kva, city pld, city primary, co. delta primary, banked 4/0 copper sec from three ways, and a PIT BULL CHAINED TO THE OLD POLE! :D

Oh well! A different time as someone else likes to say?:rolleyes:

wtdoor67

08-20-2010, 03:41 PM

climbsomemore

08-20-2010, 07:27 PM

I liked to pull up two wires to sag using a leveling rig improvised out of a SR block and 30 feet of 3/4 inch rope....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------Eveners, man. Shoot.

Door... just different lingo bud... same rigging. I set up a digger derric over the arm to pull it... and the whole crew went into a high speed wobble.

That "other" utility in Michigan (the ones who are not AEP or DTE:D) talk a lot of smack....hard workers... but not big on independent thinking (the home growns, anyway)

climbsomemore

08-20-2010, 07:30 PM

"We hung our block just below the secondary in Detroit which you know gives ya enough to pick the new pole just past balance where ya want it! JUST ENOUGH!! Too much sh!t any higher up (cans, primary, etc.) and more strain on the old one when they're raked hard one way or the other?" MI

Big blue just saves those sets for the 876 guys ... after the storm blows the broken snag over....;)

MI-Lineman

08-20-2010, 07:35 PM

MI-Lineman

08-20-2010, 07:36 PM

wtdoor67

08-20-2010, 07:39 PM

Yeah I know, just like to mess with people. Good thing it aint in Espanol or you know who would be whining. It's concerning linework though, he probably don't have much to say there.

The guy from Long Island climbed a pole in Albuquerque and said. "Send me up a Jackline and a dog. Had um puzzled for a moment.

Steve I thought that damn thing was an AZ wagon. Nobody spelled it for me and I just thought that's what they said. That was near Longview and you know them Texicans there speak like Louisiana hands. Kinda mumbly like or such.

In my limited Hi-line experience all I had seen was cranes. I was impressed by the setup because it was a lot more nimble and much better than a crane. Could handle difficult terrain pretty good I thought.

Highplains Drifter

08-20-2010, 08:55 PM

This one is still around and handles 125 foot 345kv H Structures with a breeze. This one has B-29 type tires instead of tracks like LE Myers. Par owns it now. It was built by back in 1958 and seen Duty in at least 15 States. The old cable blade cat is also still attached to the unit. You ain't no cat skinner if you can't push dirt with a cable blade. To save time moving around a river or other obstruction, they would call Ruby around with her low-boy and pull the D-8 up on the low-boy and drag the ATHEY Wagon behind stretched out about 150 ft load. Old Donny Mailen sure didn't care for that ride in the seat of that D-8 on the low-boy, but he needed to be there to raise and lower the boom

Steve, I was never around it when in use but there was one in Marshalltown. Of course Myers has gotten rid of a lot of their old equipment and replaced with new.I was disappointed they got rid of those Allis Cats with a hand clutch. There are lots of us that learned to run a cat on those. I picked it up easy growing up with John Deere A's and B's.I know where there are some black and white photos of the boys when they brought the 500 into El Centro. I'll scan them and send them to you. I bet there's lots of them old timers you know and it is just like the photo you just posted of you on the tower....they are all just wearing a ball cap. I did use a sagging cat on Camp Pendleton in 96 that was originally Power Constructors and that was a Par job.

Highplains Drifter

08-20-2010, 09:38 PM

I don't remember when the pole pikes disappeared of line trucks and how hard it is to find a Banjo and spoon or rock bars on line trucks today.

Pikes are hard to find but every where I work there is a three phase set (different lingo...Door) on every digger. But I don't work east of the Mississip. Sometimes Clappers are hard to find.

Trbl639

08-21-2010, 01:27 AM

Pikes are hard to find but every where I work there is a three phase set (different lingo...Door) on every digger. But I don't work east of the Mississip. Sometimes Clappers are hard to find.

Snap diggers? Anybody still got an 'ignorant anchor auger'? The hand twist one.......... Used a many one and some young hands saw one and couldn't figure out what it was!!:eek: First time I saw/used a screw anchor , I was thinking this is the best thing since sliced bread!!!:D

MI-Lineman

08-21-2010, 09:29 AM

Snap diggers? Anybody still got an 'ignorant anchor auger'? The hand twist one.......... Used a many one and some young hands saw one and couldn't figure out what it was!!:eek: First time I saw/used a screw anchor , I was thinking this is the best thing since sliced bread!!!:D

Snap diggers.....Jobbers!:D

Trbl639

08-21-2010, 01:51 PM

Snap diggers.....Jobbers!:D

Thanks MI..kinda thought they were..you know the deal....in different parts of the country, different slang............

When I got out of the service and hired on with a co-op, I told the grunt to get me a Becky...........and he just looked stupid like, "A what?".......they called em sling ropes!!!

MI-Lineman

08-21-2010, 02:12 PM

Thanks MI..kinda thought they were..you know the deal....in different parts of the country, different slang............

When I got out of the service and hired on with a co-op, I told the grunt to get me a Becky...........and he just looked stupid like, "A what?".......they called em sling ropes!!!

Actually we called'em both "snap diggers" or "jobbers." Don't know where "jobbers" comes from though? I just thought it was funny you knew "clappers" were snaps and then I figured jobbers! You could start at one end of the country with a name and have 3 or 4 different ones by the time you got to the other side!:rolleyes:

As for "beckys" and "sling ropes" those were always 2 different things where I worked! Some used beckys and others slings! Usually make a becky out of slings!:D

polehiker

09-08-2010, 12:11 AM

Back in the stone age when I was still working, we had the adjustable becky on our handline block.Real handy. We also used a short sling rope for sending up x-arms. Had the grunt tie the end of the line around one end of the arm,run the line up the arm and tie the line against the arm with a half bow. Send it up and we'd get hold of the top end of arm, jerk the loose end of the bow, the grunt would then pull it right up so we could lay it on our belt. The short sling rope was also a becky and was usually only a 3/8 piece. Nothing new about this to you old hands, but maybe it is to the younger fellas. All of you stay safe and watch out for your buddy.

Trbl639

09-08-2010, 01:07 AM

Highplains Drifter

09-09-2010, 10:51 PM

I bet have the numbs nuts breaking out today don't have a clue to braiding a Becky into a hand line sheive.

And that statement is not funny, the Contractors like to have a shop grunt weave the hand lines and pee wee blocks. I immediately cut them out and weave my own in, I don't trust them. I do carry a 303 with a meat hook and yeah I do have a 404....with me.:D

Highplains Drifter

09-09-2010, 11:46 PM

"Pee wee" blocks?:D Ya mean Slack Blocks?:D "shop Grunt"?
What's a Shop grunt doin, weavin handlines for contractors? Union Contractors?

I'll take rope from ya...but I'll braid my own hand line....and "Pee Wee" blocks too.:cool: Thanks for the Rope...:cool:

The Ironic part is your Pike is double breasted, they own an Union company to do line work. I only recall you taking one call for Pike on the Hurricane two years ago.....what happened did you get on their No Hire List too?

Highplains Drifter

09-16-2010, 09:42 PM

Below is one of the trucks long over due for a trip to the junk yard. It had to be run from the ground and it wasn't self leveling. We would get so pissed at the operate for not leveling the basket, John Bardin and I would wedge ourself and hold on until shit started falling out of the basket raining down on the operator.

http://www.powerlineman.com/lforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2729&stc=1&d=1284674563

Steve is that an Oshkosh?

topgroove

09-16-2010, 11:52 PM

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp54/johnwcollins/itemsforsale011.jpg (http://chico.craigslist.org/cto/1487624450.html)

did it look like this?

topgroove

09-17-2010, 01:16 AM

DAMN Close Groove!!:D DAMN Close. Where the HELL did you find THAT picture??:cool:

Too cool man....
Cool dude....:cool: Just a shot in the dark... I googled 1969 F250 ladder truck. I think thats a 1967 F500 though?

Trbl639

09-17-2010, 10:33 AM

Still wish I had a picture............in 1971 at Altus AFB, Oklahoma we had a 64 Dodge Power wagon 4x4 with the tall military lug tires like were in a duece and a half.had service bins on the back and an extended back bumper. a few inches above the bumper, below the tail gate, were 2 brackets, the width of a wooden extension ladder (24ftr)............you pulled the ladder on the rack back, stood it up and hooked a bracket on the ladder legs into the brackets above the bumper........top of the ladder was still in a sleeve on the ladder rack...........you pulled up to a streetlight, set the ladder up, extended it up to the height you needed, put you belt on, went up and changed the bulb on the streetlight......most of the lights were the constant current/arc light type circuit, change the bulb and the 'pill', climbed down and moved to the next....................

Always fun cause the wind always blew and the ladder rocked back and forth.....:D

wtdoor67

09-18-2010, 08:58 PM

Had acess to one at PP & L. Hell old Rose would have driven it across the Grand Canyon in order not to climb a pole. One time we were tying in some wire. We pole counted on em. We got to this 60' that was his pole. Rose was all the way up and just standing in the ladder platform and looking up at the top of the pole. Said he. I think I left my hooks at the shop. Foreman said. That's all right we'll just wait until you go get them. We sat on the hill above town while he drove to the shop to get his hooks. Came back with them, put on his belt and hooks, ran the ladder as high as it would go and climbed the 10 foot or so on up to the arm. Tied in the wire and came down. We thought it funny.

One thing about that old ladder. You could drive it over some tough terrain. Narrowback acquired it after it was surplus. Lost both arms out of it on some 34.5. Irony of it was the insurance settlement saved his business as he was about to go belly up. Forgot the line was hot and hung a sheave on the phase. Blew all the tires on the old truck plus damn near killing him. Lost both arms just above the elbow. Made it with hooks though.

polehiker

09-18-2010, 10:39 PM

The first ladder truck we had was probably around 1963. I was still a grunt. Anyways to get it up you stood behind the pedistal (sp) and pulled a pin on the side. Then you stood on the bottom step and your weight lifted it up. If ya had the angle figured right, you repinned it and then cranked out the fly ladder.Stepped in a basket on the end and did the job. Around 65 we went modern and got one that raised hydralic. Damn never thought at the time to take pictures , think how interesting it would be to look at them 45 yrs later.

topgroove

09-18-2010, 11:56 PM

wholy crap... I think I found a picture of swamp

http://threadforthought.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Lineman-Working-Trades-by-Irving-Penn-1951.jpg (http://threadforthought.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Lineman-Working-Trades-by-Irving-Penn-1951.jpg)
Lineman by Irving Penn, 1951

Highplains Drifter

09-20-2010, 07:56 AM

Since we are talking about the past, myself and other Journeymen are observing something. It seems to us that the younger Journeymen do not have the concentration level they should for the job they are doing. I wonder if the old timers observed this characteristic in us when we where there?

lewy

09-20-2010, 08:37 PM

This is a close as I have ever come to a ladder truck, found it in a field after disconnecting a service.

Highplains Drifter

09-21-2010, 07:20 AM

Your fu$kin funny...driftboy.:D

When we were comin up in linework...ya knew our fu$kin place.

And when ya got the SHIT slapped outta ya..one way or the other...Ya didn't "File a Lawsuite".:rolleyes: Ya Fuc$in LEARNED.

"It seems to us that the younger Journeymen do not have the concentration level they should for the job they are doing."

Who the fu$k are.... your..."US"...drifter:confused:

There's alot of "Programs", and Utilitys out there that MAKE Linemen. Not Union Linemen.

Just Fu$kin LINEMEN.

Ya can still BE a REAL Journeyman Lineman, and not be union. No matter WHAT the union boys tell ya.:rolleyes:

The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.

Lineman8641

09-21-2010, 07:23 PM

I think I know the Ladder truck you're talking about Swamp. When I started back in the early 70's the Street Light crews had them. One was on a 1967 Chevy 3/4 ton truck. That one was all hand operated. I remember the guy telling me that when you worked off of the side to "aim" high, because the truck would lean as you climbed out to the end of the ladder and it could put you further away from the work if the ladder was extended way out. We let the Substation gang borrow it one time and they forgot to lock the ladder down when they finished using it. They drove it too fast over some railroad tracks with a low bridge. The ladder jumped up and it tore right off of the truck. The last one they had was a 1969 Dodge and it did have the hydraulic lift for the ladder and the small metal step platform at the end. But I can't recall if the ladder could be operated from the platform. Something tells me it couldn't. Then they started buying the 36 foot High Rangers and the 36LR Asplundhs. I think Philadelphia Electric used a lot of them as Trouble Trucks too. Maybe if someone on here works for them they could add more info.

wtdoor67

09-22-2010, 04:40 PM

what kind of ladder truck we used. It ran entirely off batteries. Batteries were mounted in the front of the bed next to the cab. Had lower controls and when the thing was stowed you pushed the button and then the platform pushed out and you climbed up and walked forward on the stowed ladder and stepped down into the platform where you had foot buttons.

Although it was illegal by our rules old Rose gloved 12470 from it. He hated to climb. Man if anything malfunctioned on it he was hell for getting it fixed.

We finally got a little squirt boom service truck. He would take it on URD if the foreskin didn't stop him. What a hand.

wtdoor67

09-22-2010, 04:46 PM

Hell that was that place they talked about. Whole town was 120/208. There wasn't any primary over 208 volts. Just work secondary voltages was all you ever did there. What a training ground. You shoulda looked at the sub., then you would have understood Wye/Wye. Ha, ha, ha.

whitefox01

10-07-2010, 10:03 PM

I'm only 28 and in my last year of my appreticeship so I guess I'd be one of the younger guys you all are refering to. However I do know about some of these things you've been talking about. The molly buster, got one on each our digger trucks, the pikes, one on each of our trouble call trucks and on each of our foreman's trucks, banjo and spoon got them on or digger trucks too, and don't forget about the old trusty rock bars!!! We also still use the transformer gins once in a while with our smaller trucks that don't have a material handler. And believe it or not I have used a set of 2x2 blocks to hang a transforfer!!!! There is nothing wrong with using some rope, don't always have to use a yellow sling!!

I may be younger but I still know how to do it the old fashioned way when or if I have to!!