Edwin Lancaster Hobbs
Ed Hobbs was eight years old when he began to rappel off sheer mountain cliffs in search for falcons. His love for falcons embarked him on a lifelong avocation that influenced his career decisions, led him to arboriculture, and in so doing, fundamentally changed a century old profession.
Ed started doing tree pruning and removal for friends and neighbours in 1949 when he was just 12 years old! He was the youngest person ever to buy a full set of climbing gear from Western Tool and Hardware in San Francisco .
While I was still in diapers, literally, Ed worked as a rigger and loader in the heart of the Redwood Empire. In the 1950s, while on the Logging Sports circuit, he set records as a competitive high climber that stood for years. Ed became a police officer in 1958 and spent the Kennedy years in the Army as a K-9 MP, providing security at a missile base. Honorably discharged, Ed returned to his career as a police officer and served a total of 14 years. In 1967 Ed Hobs and Harry Brizee established B&H Tree Service in Moraga , California .
All though they offered a full range of tree maintenance services - pruning, cabling and pest control - B&H soon established a reputation for being masters of extreme tree removal. In addition with conventional methods, Ed used sign cranes, line guns and hook-and-ladder trucks to place his climbers in enormous eucs and redwoods. In addition to common rigging practices, he used cranes and helicopters to move the wood. He never stopped thinking about, dreaming up and implementing improvements in tools and techniques.
Ed is an authentic genius. Not only can he drum up an idea, he can mill it, lathe it and weld it into reality in his machine shop. In his time, he has patented several climbing, rigging and rappelling inventions and has developed scores of other products to meet his own needs.
Husquvana manufactures a motorized, tracked crawler for use on construction sites. Ed bought one and figured out how to stick a small brushwood chipper on it. Now it was a self-propelled chipper that would fit through a gate into a back yard. It sure beats dragging brush!
During the Vietnam War, Ed developed a rappelling kit for pilots who might find themselves stuck in the forest canopy. The prototype was a masterpiece, containing a miniature figure-8, karabiner and a rappelling line packed into a self deploying bag that strapped to the thigh of a flight suit. The war had ended just as he had gotten the Pentagon interested in placing an order.
In my profile of Dick Alvarez, I expressed serious doubts that this book would ever have been written had it not been for the Jamboree and Ed Hobbs. Dick Alvarez changed arboriculture forever with the founding of the Jamboree. Ed Hobbs revolutionized the industry with just three of his original inventions: the Bry-Dan saddle, the Hobbs Lowering Device and the Hobbs Rigging Block.
I believe to the depth of my soul that the competitive products that appeared more than 10 years after Ed introduced his original designs would not have developed if Hobbs hadn't lit the lamp. Before Eds pioneering work, there was no precedent, market or perceived need for such devices.
All along the journey that this book has taken me on, I’ve been struck by the impact and effect that seemingly unconnected events can have on the order of things. Because Dick Alvarez founded the Jamboree, we have the Throwline, Footlock and Aerial Rescue in companions to the Work Climb. Because of Ed Hobbs' lifelong passion for falcons, arboriculture has been changed forever - for the good and safety of all.
- Taken from the book ARBORIST EQUIPMENT by Don Blair
Quite an admirable story, that of Mr Hobbs. But enough reason to run out and choose the H.2 over its competitors? Of course not!
When it comes to breaking out the cash, such sentiments quickly go out the window where I'm concerned. However, I eventually chose the Hobbs because of its conscientious, wear resistant, purpose built design....that which to accommodate safe and repetitive light to high impact loading. With the choice of 3 different mounting options, an all in one winch/lowering spool, portable, easy set-up and user friendly....you need not be an expert to recognize that the design and methodology it promotes, would pass even the most stringent of risk assessments.....more so than any other such similar lowering device as far as I can see.
Anyway, upon using the device, the advantages that it affords became evident with immediate effect, not only to myself, but to the various colleagues that I've worked with over the past month.
Weighing in at just over 24 kg, you can certainly feel as well as see exactly where your money's been spent. The heavy-duty design inspires confidence from the off set. It also has clear and detailed instructions/guidelines written all over the device itself.
Mounting the device is easy enough. You have the preservation mounting for pruning/isolated limb removal or anchoring to adjacent trees, the standard mounting where a hinged guard is removed to uncover 3 spikes which dig in the tree, and then there's the cut-in mounting (Highest impact) where you actually cut a notch out of the base of the tree and seat the device in side of it. We have rigorously tested all three and they worked to equally impressive effect. Tensioning of the strap is a two person operation though, and it should be checked and re-tensioned if need be once its taken the weight of the first few loads as the device beds in.
The SWL enables me to rig much larger loads than before', with the added reassurance that the heat dissipating qualities of the alloy spool, accommodates either a slow or repetitive fast rate load-descent. I have found this particularly reassuring while blocking down spars....the worry of rope damage/failure has been hugely diminished, no more gulps of air as I watch them fold over.
With the winch facility I can better implement either initial, or continuous lift, and/or direction, so to favourably manipulate even the most challenging of branch structures.....not to mention the obvious advantages of having a portable winch at one's disposal for whenever a pulling or lifting situation presents itself....and its amazing how such opportunities do start to present themselves when you have such a facility at hand.
The Cedar tree on the above video is a prime example of how the pre-tensioning of limbs, more so those that are horizontally aligned and are closer to the ground, can maintain ground clearance on their journey towards and beyond the rigging point. A truly huge time and labour saver, in that, large limbs can be moved from one side of a tree to the other....and even if they do snag or hang up, the winch facility can be easily deployed to raise the load until adequate ground clearance is once again achieved. The same goes for loads that get hung up elsewhere in the canopy. Great for the climber then....no more having to descend 40 feet below to free a snagged branch, which can be really annoying when its not your fault.
Also, the video clearly shows pre-tensioning as well as the winching/raising of loads as a one-man operation. Now I wasn't the instigator of those particular operations, the guys were just doing what, to them, seemed obvious and time saving. Personally, whether a winch self-tails/adjusts or not, when such a device is anchored to the same tree that is being worked on I'd much prefer one person winching while the other secures the rope and keeps lookout for his colleague at the base of the tree. I also believe this was a conscious decision by the designer, and the fact that one person operation is, while easily achievable, was not a design objective.
But however which way you decide to operate the winch, it's very easy to come to terms with i.e. though the entry-hook, around the spool 3-4 times depending on the load and then out of the exit hook, then insert and apply the winch handle at your leisure. It also has additional tie-off hooks should you need to suspend a load and let go of the rope at the same time. Nothing too fiddly about it either, there is plenty of room so no need to take your gloves off.
For straight forward lowering operations it usually half a wrap, one or two....Only a couple of times did we need three. Further, finer adjustment can be achieved depending on where you stand with the rope in relation to the exit hook.
What I also recognized was the extra leeway afforded to the ground worker to successfully recover a misjudged situation i.e. whether they've over-wrapped or initially squeezed too hard upon taking the weight of a load......upon realization and with quick reactions, the load can still be released without the rope locking up on the lowering device, thus preventing a shock-load.....imperative on the more brittle of tree species/structures. The logical wide angled routing of the rope as it passes through the Hobbs is the reason for this, regardless of rope diameter. This is far more difficult if not impossible with some of the budget lowering devices on the market. So the selection of operator is less critical with the Hobbs as opposed to cheaper devices, that is, assuming such rigging tasks are to be attempted with confidence. Incidentally, there are 5 different operators on the video, all were first time users of the Hobbs , some of whom are accomplished climbers in their own standing!
To summarize, I can honestly say that for significantly increased safety and productivity, the Hobbs delivers. If you're serious about tree work and are looking to better your rigging options, then this device deserves consideration. My opinion is un-biased as I have no ties with either the Hobbs or any other lowering device on the market. I don’t take lightly to sticking my neck out, but out of 10 the Hobbs H2 gets full marks.
Reg Coates, Freelance Tree Climber
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