Tips & News - September 2012

of Historic Line Tools The Guardian

ike Glueckert, Sr. is a Journeyman Lineman/Troubleshooter at Northwestern Energy in Helena, Montana. He is also the guardian of hundreds of antique line tools. Glueckert started collecting line tools when he was a young apprentice, more than 37 years ago. But, he did not get serious until the end of the 1990’s. “The OSHA regulations changed and utilities in the US had to dispose of all their wooden tools. I saw my supervisor cutting the wooden handles in half and I asked if I could take the rest of the tools home with me. He said yes and it became clear to me that I needed to preserve some of our past,” explains Glueckert. What do you have in your collection? Primarily I collect safety line tools, but I have a little bit of everything. I have a lot of line tools including saddles, clamps, and anything to do with transmission work. I have wooden tools and some of the very first, epoxy-glass sticks. I have old wooden insulator cradles and wooden link sticks. I'm not a big insulator collector, but I do have some rubber goods.” Most of my tools are Chance ® tools. Of course, before it was Chance it was Tips Tool Company (1918-1937). Our forefathers, started with Tips. And, some of the most popular tools in the collection are the Tips and Chance shotgun sticks. I have quite a few for transmission work, as well as six-footers and folding sticks. I have a number of different universal sticks with all the tips and a variety of tie heads. M

What is the oldest thing you have in your collection? “I have some very old tool belts. They are homemade out of horse harness leather. I don’t know how old they are for sure, but I suppose they were made at the turn-of-the-century or early in the 1900s. As far as tools go, I have a large variety of Tips tools from the 1920s.” “The basic tools haven’t changed much over the years, but there have been many modifications. Most of the changes were made because the hardware on the lines changed. Over the years, more large heavy tools have been developed for transmission work. These have been incorporated into the trade to accommodate the heavy string of bells, for example. Those are all fairly new tools. And, since the industry is reluctant to take lines out of service, we've been seeing more live line work and more bare hand work and all the tools that you need to do that work. One major change is the addition of electronic components to line tools.” “One of the most unique things is an old Tips Tool grounding chain. It is a braided copper chain the linemen would attach to ground--either the shield wire or a local ground. Then, they would pull the other end of the chain over the conductor with an old manila rope. So, it was just a copper chain lying over the conductor. There aren’t many of those around anymore. What do you think has changed the most over the years? What are some the strangest items that you have?

I also have my own, fully refurbished, 1959 hot stick trailer. It is a Chance trailer, filled with Chance tools.

Also, I have some antique climbing hooks that the lineman wore. In the old days, the shank was

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