US2973940A

US2973940A - Power line stringing apparatus

Info

Publication number: US2973940A
Application number: US728829A
Authority: US
Inventors: Dence Allen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1958-04-16
Filing date: 1958-04-16
Publication date: 1961-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 1978-03-07

Description

March 7, 1961 A. DENCE POWER LINE STRINGING APPARATUS Filed April 16, 1958 INVENTOR. AUQJZ Dance,

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent POWER LINE STRINGING APPARATUS Allen Dence, Star Rte., Owego, N.Y.

Filed Apr. 16, 1958, Ser. No. 728,829

4 Claims. (Cl. 254-1343) This invention relates to means for stringing electrical conductors and more particularly to means for stringing such conductors over existing high tension lines.

In erecting electric power lines a particular problem is presented where it is necessary to string such lines over and across existing power lines. In other cases it is merely necessary to hoist both ends of the line upwardly to spaced supporting towers or the like but this is obviously not possible when there are intervening power lines eX- tending transversely of the line to be erected and at a lower elevation. Various cumbersome and laborious makeshifts have been resorted to but none of these have proved satisfactory.

The present invention provides apparatus and a method which greatly facilitates erecting conductor lines under the stated conditions and which accomplishes the desired result with much greater safety.

The accompanying drawing illustrates special novel apparatus and a schematic illustration of its mode of use and the following specification describes such apparatus and method in sufficient detail to set forth the principles of the present invention in a manner which will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that such detailed disclosure is by way of example only and that the principles of the invention are not limited to the precise form thus shown and described, nor otherwise than as defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a somewhat schematic general elevational view of one form of apparatus and one mode of practicing the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view on a larger scale showing the novel apparatus portion of Fig. 1 in another position of operation;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing a still further position of operation; and

Fig. 4 is an end elevational view of the apparatus of Figs. 2 and 3.

Like characters of reference denote like parts through-' out the several figures of the drawing and, referring particularly to Fig. 1, the numerals and 11 designate a pair of conductor-supporting towers between which conductors are to be strung. Merely by way of illustration,

towers

12 and 13 are indicated which support high tension lines running transversely with respect to the lines to be strung between the

towers

10 and 11.

In Fig. l the numeral 15 designates a pulling line or cable which is employed merely to pull the conductor into its desired position, a power winch 16 being provided to assist in this operation. The conductor itself is designated 17 and is connected to the pulling line 15 by a series of insulators 18. The insulators 18 are provided for the purpose of connecting the conductor 17 to tower 10 when the installation of the conductor is complete. A sheave 19 is temporarily attached to tower 10 and the pulling line 15 is strung thereover as illustrated in Fig. 1.

The conductor 17 which is to be strung between the

ice towers

10 and 11 is paid out from a drum 21 with the assistance of the usual braking or snubbing mechanism indicated at 22.

The principal novel apparatus component of the present invention will now be described, referring particularly to Figs. 2 or 3 since they show the same on a larger scale than Fig. l. The main body member of such apparatus comprises a beam 24 which has a central opening 25 by means of which it is pivoted to tower 11 as shown in Fig. 1.

Attached to and depending from each end of beam 214 are snatch blocks 27 and 28 which include

sheaves

29 and 39, respectively, the blocks being adapted to be opened from the side, as indicated at 31 in Fig. 4, to permit lines to be introduced to or removed from the sheaves from the side of each snatch block. The snatch blocks 2'7 and 28 are preferably swivelly attached to the beam 24.

In addition to the pivotal attachment of beam 24- to tower 11 as at 25, each tower is temporarily provided with a sheave 34 which is disposed above beam 24 and preferably in general vertical alignment with pivot 25. A line or cable 35 extends from a power winch 36 and over sheave 34 and is provided at its opposite end with a hook 37 which may selectively be hooked to the beam through either of a pair of

openings

39 and 40 provided at opposite ends of beam 24.

The following is a general description of a sequence of steps incident to a line stringing operation practiced according to the method of the present invention and employing the foregoing novel apparatus combinations. As stated previously, the pulling line 15 is connected to the conductor 17, which is to be strung between the towers 1t) and 11, by insulators 1S, Winch 16 is operated to pull the conductor 17 to the position illustrated in Fig. 1 with'the beam 2 held in the horizontal position there illustrated by the opposing forces of the line 15 acting on sheave 29 and the line 35 which is now connected to the left hand end of beam 24 as shown in' Fig. 1.

When the conductor line 17 reaches the position shown in Fig. 1 it will be noted that the insulators are generally between the snatch blocks 27 and 28, the pulling line 15 being strung over the sheave 29 of the left hand snatch block 27. Referring now particularly to Fig. 2 the winch 36 is operated to pull on the line 35 and thus pivot beam 24 in a clockwise direction until the snatch block 28 is slightly below the conductor line 17, whereupon the snatch block 28 is opened as shown in Fig. 4 and the line 17 is strung over the sheave thereof, and the snatch block 28 is closed.

.The hook 37 at the end of line is then released from the hole 39 at the left hand end of beam 24 and is shifted to the hole at the right hand and winch 36 is operated to pivot beam 24 to the horizontal position illustrated in Fig. 3. Snatch block 27 is then opened, the line 15 is released therefrom, and winch 16 is operated to pull the line 15 and conductor line 17 farther to the left with the line 15 free of the sheave 29 so that the insulators 18 may pass freely from the beam member and over to the tower 10 to which they are to be secured. This completes the portion of the line stringing operation which is novel to the present invention and after the mounting of conductor line 17 is completed in the usual manner, the operation is repeated with other lines 17 until the desired number of lines have been strung between the

towers

10 and 11.

I claim:

1. Power line stringing apparatus comprising an elongated beam member and means pivoting the same to a support substantially centrally of the beam member, a

sheave above said beam pivot and a lift line extending upwardly from the ground and over said sheave, means for connecting said lift line selectively to either end of said beam member, and a snatch block secured to each end of said beam member, said snatch blocks being spaced longitudinally a distance sufficient to accommodate a string of power line insulators therebetween.

2. A method of stringing power lines containing insulators, said method comprising attaching a generally horizontal beam having a snatch block at each end thereof to a tower, drawing the line along the leading snatch block until the insulators therein are generally between the snatch blocks, lowering the trailing end of said beam and engaging the line with the snatch block at such trailing end, raising said trailing end until the beam is again generally horizontal, and releasing the line from the leading snatch block to permit the insulators to pass the same freely on further drawing movement of the line over the trailing snatch block.

3. A method of stringing power lines containing insulators, said method comprising attaching a generally horizontal beam having a snatch block at each end thereof to a tower, drawing the line along the leading snatch block until the insulators therein are generally between the snatch blocks While maintaining an upward pull on the leading end of the beam to maintain the same substantially horizontal, exerting a further upward pull to lower the trailing end of said beam and engaging the line with the snatch block at such trailing end, releasing said upward pull and transferring the same to the trailing end of the beam to raise said trailing end until the beam is again generally horizontal, and releasing the line from the leading snatch block to permit the insulators to pass the same freely on further drawing movement of the line over the trailing snatch block.

4. A method of stringing power lines containing insulators, said method comprising attaching a generally horizontal beam having a snatch block at each end there of to a tower, drawing the line along the leading snatch block until the insulators therein are generally between the snatch blocks, engaging the linewith the snatch block at such trailing end, and releasing the line from the leading snatch block to permit the insulators to pass the same freely on further drawing movement of the line over the trailing snatch block.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 746,718 Loth Dec. 15, 1903 1,670,215 Rutland May 15, 1928 FOREIGN PATENTS 355,002 Great Britain Aug. 20, 1931 940,034 France May 10, 1948