THE STAFF
The flagpole is composed of the following parts: The pole ball, spindle, truck, sheave, cleat, brace and halyard.
The halyard is the rope with which the flag is drawn up to the top, and it is never used for climbing purposes. The art of climbing a flagpole with ease and performing that which is to be done upon the pole will be explained in detail later on.
The ball on the top of the staff plays no important part. It is used more for ornamental purposes than anything else.
The spindle is the rod that runs from the ball through the truck into the pole.
The truck holds the sheave.
The sheave holds the halyard.
The cleat is for the purpose of tying the halyard to a few feet from the base of the pole. The majority of poles have iron braces for support connected about six (6) feet up from the base of the pole.
From experience I find the steel pole the most dangerous. In my opinion it ismore dangerous than the wooden pole for the reason that rust forms inside of the steel pole and around the bands where it is connected, and in the winter time it is easily broken by the cold weather if any weight is put on it, whereas the wooden pole can be tested by sounding it as to its condition.
If the wooden pole has the dead sound it is in all probability dry rot, and with a pole of this kind I would advise you to be extremely careful. Never sway such a pole any more than you absolutely must, and take plenty of time in climbing it. A pole in this condition gives no warning before it breaks, but a pole with plenty of sap gives a cracking sound before it gives way, which gives the man working on it a chance to slide to a more secure position.
Climbing Flagstaff With Slings
Climbing Flagstaff With Slings
A boatswain chair and two slings are the only tools necessary to work on a flagpole. Take two slings made of at least ½-inch line, splice an eye in the end of each sling—the eye being about two inches in diameter; place the slingaround the pole, drawing the end opposite from the eye through the eye; do likewise with the other sling; tie the boatswain chair to the top sling, allowing five inches from the rope of the boatswain chair to the eye of the sling; tie a loop in the end of the lower sling—tying a bow-line knot. This is called a stirrup. Leave the same distance from eye to knot as from the chair to the knot. Get into the boatswain chair.
The first thing to do is to see that the loop around the pole is as tight as it will go. Then place your foot in the stirrup, take hold of the pole to steady yourself, raise up in the stirrup, and with the right hand push the sling holding the chair up, again making the sling tight to the pole. Sit down in the chair, reach down and pull the stirrup sling up until you can get your foot in. Repeat these movements and you will see how simple it is to climb without exerting yourself.
At every movement going up and coming down make sure that the sling that holds the chair is secure and thereby preventit from slipping down. Should it be loose and slip down and your foot in the stirrup, the result would undoubtedly be that you would be dangling in the air head down. Avoid all of this by taking every precaution.