Inovations...

[Edge]

Lets hear it guys... what has been one of your favorite innovations as you been coming up...
the Bucket truck maybe... or maybe tools in the bucket? ... or maybe those fancy jibs?
or maybe it's battery tools.... or helmet lights?
for me it's prolly those fancy hi-lites... I remember changing out a 500kv double dead end years ago and seeing them for the first time... took two tractor trailers to haul out the old bells and one crate of hilites to replace them... they were light enuff you could hold a string of 4 with 2 men... ****ed amazing to me.... just curious we have a ton of different age ranges on this site.... just curious as to what the different generations consider.... "innovative"...

for what it's worth,

Edge

[Mike-E]

Are the hi-lites the polymer insulators edge? Sounds like that's what you're talking about. They're nice, but I've been told that they fail too often or that crows peck the insulation away.

I guess you got me thinking of the headlamps. I never had to work without one. But they are nice on storm work.

[BigClive]

Bucket trucks, cordless power tools and LED headlamps are well up there for me.

[johnbellamy]

Have to go with.............


Well...............

















The Bucksqueeze. Does it get any better?

[huskietoolz82]

hush hush, working on a new cutter that can do atleast 1500mcm copper, and alum. as well as 1000mcm acsr, and 2 inch wire rope. still in the R&D stage but just want to let you guys know we are working on it.

[huskietoolz82]

i am sure you are familar with our inline tool, well we have redesigned the entire tool. The new model is beefed up with more power, faster crimps, and comes with a complete 5yr warranty. will be by far the best inline tool on the market and have the option of having differnt cutter heads and crimp heads. Look for it at our table at the ICUEE show!!

[BigClive]

Have to go with.............

The Bucksqueeze. Does it get any better?

I suppose it doesn't if the alternative is falling on your head and ending up as a wheelchair bound vegetable for the rest of your life.

That said, it is quite a rare occurrence probably. But if you KNEW you were going to fall on your head I suppose you could wear the thing just that one day. :D

[BigClive]

Almost forgot! I'll add the Defibrillator to the list of good inventions.

[lineman 126]

For me it's the pickupmac. They can pick up load any where or they can brake load. Some can even be applied with hot sticks.

[wtdoor67]

I've developed a fondness fer them gaff things you put on your feet to climb wood poles with. Wuz gitten tard of thet toe nailing method.

Course when old Swimpsuck come up with the #6 thang that was a quantum leap forward fer linemen. Also the slobber and crying towel he innovated wuz good fer all them right wing cry baby linemen.

Also done fergit when he figgered out the old Wye/Wye thang. It was comparable to Einstein's theory of relativity. At least in his little muni-world.

In Saudi they still have a camel dung statue of him near the local latrine. To be so notable.

[scamplineman]

I went home a happy man the day I got my new set of offsets... I didn't even blink when I handed my grunt my old straights. There was no love loss there.
I was never a natural climber even after I started climbing daily. The offsets made a huge difference in my form.

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmmmm I duuno the polymers iz wunderful n so iz the bucket trux. I dun had me summa that No 6 n used it plenty but I spect the best thang bout linewerk since I came up iz the,new specs. Stuff jus aint near as crowded azzit usta be n sumtimes theres room for the bucket tween stuff. Aint all crowded up wif 2 foot spacin tween feeders Like it usta be. Oh N I like the new braces kause theys stronger n kin be used on either side. N I really like it that summa the pricks I came up around aint doin this fera livin enymore. I really liked summa them guys but **** I sho nuff hated werkin round em. But theys sumuthers I sno nuff miss. Kause I always knowed jus sactley whut they wuz upto in ever sittyation.

[Lineman North Florida]

Rear lot alley rigs to set poles instead of pike poles,butt board and dead man,phase moving head for jib on bucket, heck was proud to see the hydraulic jib on bucket period, multi-tap block for multiple service connections, aluminum cluster brackets for building transformer banks, gas powered drills for framing rear lot poles, electric ground rod drivers and as someone said earlier I like the polymer hi-line insulators, velcro wrap around pads for hooks instead of L-pads, it just keeps getting easier and easier but everybody ought to have to do it all once the old way to appreciate some of what we got today.:D

[wtdoor67]

2 things to narrow it down for me. The Tanaka drills and all the attachments for removing and installing hardware that fit the hydraulic drill.

[loodvig]

I like indoor plumbing. Those out houses got really cold in the winter!

[Koga]

ferget Loo Charmin feels much better than the mens shoe section of the Sears catalog !!!!

Koga

[koca]

Easy out lags and gain plates. The company I work for now doesn't use either.

[CPOPE]

Lets hear it guys... what has been one of your favorite innovations as you been coming up...Edge

The fatality rate of linemen over time has reduced dramaticially over the history through many invoations. From climbing to the 1st bucket trucks to barehand helo linework. Digger derrick replacing digging bar spoon and pole pikes...... it goes on and on

Electroninc relays overcurrent protection so much better than electromechanical. Non-relcosing has progressed to HLT Hot Line Tag protocall,

It ain't that complex , just 3 wires strung on a peice of wood, how we do what needs to be done has changed so much it is hard to pick a favorite.

Follow the link below, over the history of our industry the safety in the product we deliver and how it is used.
http://ts.nist.gov/Standards/Global/upload/rayjones.ppt

[wtdoor67]

I don't consider safety an innovation, Chris.

[lewy]

quick sleeves although we can only use them for emergency,
2 bolt dead end clamps. I know both have been around for a while

[BigClive]

Sat-nav and the 'net. Both valuable tools we take for granted now.

[west coast hand]

jibs on buckets alot of guys don't like them, there easy to us if you set the truck up right.and automatic deadends and sleeves......

[Daddyof2]

Battery powered or hydraulic powered anything.:) Something to take the manual out of a repetitous task.

[mainline]

I am amazed with the difference in the way we do things coast to coast. Having a bucket with no jib blows my mind. Everything we own, with the exception of trouble trucks has a jib on it. It is the most useful tool we have bare none. Move conductor, hang equipment, it has so many uses I can't imagine doing distribution work without it. I think one of the other tools that has greatly increased safety is the hydraulic stick saw. It allows a lineman to stay back from a what is being worked on. Trees are unpredictable in the best of circumstances and when they are all tangled in stuff they are even worse. The 6' feet of reach allows you to do a lot of cutting without being right in the line of fire. I wish I had traveled more when I was younger to see some of the West coast work. Though if I had I probably never would have come back East.

[lewy]

I agree with you Mainline any boom on boom truck should come with an 8' jib with 270 degrees of rotation, squirt booms are a different story. We received a new Altec with a prototype jib to try, the jib is garbage it has no rotation below the bucket the salesman thought we only used it for setting transformers he could not understand that we would sometimes have to grab a phase below our buckets

[LAMartin.CVEC]

I have become quite the fan of the new "plastic" insulators they make a cross arm even lighter. The best thing is how easy they are to "z" tie or hand tie.

LA Martin
Journeyman CVEC

[LEAFMAN]

Has your company tried Posi-Plus? They build an excellent truck. jibs can rotate 360. Also great reach over center.

[lewy]

Has your company tried Posi-Plus? They build an excellent truck. jibs can rotate 360. Also great reach over center.

Yes we are buying some of them,the best boom on the market since Amador went out of business.

[MI-Lineman]

Hey, anybody not like innovation? We use altecs with jibs, THEY SUCK!! Jib is to wide (always in the way) and to slow. The Bucksqueese? Come on! Why would you want to be strapped to a pole that has equip at high voltages that continually fails?:(

Now a days innovation has made line work so easy a rat could do it (just kidding, calm down). I used to set poles in backyards with a electric capstan ran off the "banked" secondary using rope (which my company has made all but illegal), 4 shive blocks, jobbers for digging, and a push dolly to get the pole in the back.

I signed up for this job because it was fun. If I wanted to make money doing an easy job I would have been an engineer?:rolleyes:

Now I can't use rope because it doesn't have a weight ratting on it, they're replacing climbing school with the bucksqueese, and I see guys tear down fences and destroy yards to do 30 mins of work that could have been done the same in their hooks!

Actually, if I think about it, I like the SnC cutouts that keep breaking in every temp change or burn up in every rain storm and get me overtime!!!:rolleyes:

[Special ED]

Polymer insulators, automatic splices, battery operated press to replace my "wa wa" tools. And I have to agree with Wtdoor you cant beat a Tanaka drill. Company come out and gave me a new Stiel drill and I ended up stealing my old one back. Like a **** on a bull you just cant beat em especially for reliability in the back lots and easements.

[Special ED]

Yeah the SnC cutouts are great! Love the OT they give me too!

[lewy]

MI I would agree if all I was exposed to was Altec jibs because they do suck ,a lot of the guys remove them from the trucks up here unless they need them for a particular task , but a real jib can make a lot of jobs easier.

[MI-Lineman]

MI I would agree if all I was exposed to was Altec jibs because they do suck ,a lot of the guys remove them from the trucks up here unless they need them for a particular task , but a real jib can make a lot of jobs easier.

Yeah I agree. I worked from a 65' H.Ranger with a jib...seemed a lot smother, faster, never in the way cuz it's smaller. In fact the whole setup was better but of course you have to pay for excellence (like UNION LABOR:D) so they went by the wayside:mad:.

How did you all remove the jib? Ours you can only pull the arm out, not the big fat rest of it!:mad:

[LEAFMAN]

We got a 43ft non mat handler, a 50ft mat handler, and a 85 ft double bucket.