friction saver history

[kevin bingham]

who came up with the ring to ring friction saver and when. Does anyone know? Really a clever tool. when did did it make its way into the arborist world and who brought it here.

[nod]

Hey Kevin

 

As far as I'm aware the dual saver was created by Frederick Mathias & Francois Doussant sometime around 1992-93. It was constructed by taking a standard figure * & cutting out the the centre section leaving a large & small ring. These were added to a webbing sling sewn with a crows foot loop at each end so that the rings could be secured. The 8 rings were later changed for specific sized purpose built aluminium rings that were stitched directly into the webbing as per todays cambium/friction savers.

 

I understand that the invention has been claimed by others in the USA but to my knowledge these were first shown publically at the 1st European ISA Conference in Leinstein, Germany in 1993.

 

Commercially, the first producer was Svensk Tradvard 85 who helped begin a mass change in peoples approach & attitude towards tree work & climbing. Quite fair to say that as a supply company that they were way ahead of the time.

 

I still have my original figure 8 cambium saver hacked sawed apart in the workshop & showing a deep groove in the rings as they could not spin around, therefore the wear was all in one spot.

 

Cheers

Nod

Edited November 24, 2010 by nod
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[kevin bingham]

Thanks. Interesting story. I wonder if Francois and Mathias ever made any money off of the thing. Simple, elegant, and definitely changed arboriculture.

[Craig Johnson]

Thanks. Interesting story. I wonder if Francois and Mathias ever made any money off of the thing. Simple, elegant, and definitely changed arboriculture.

 

not much:thumbdown:

[josharb87]

Nice one Nod

[nod]

Thanks. Interesting story. I wonder if Francois and Mathias ever made any money off of the thing. Simple, elegant, and definitely changed arboriculture.

 

I did hear that certain people in the US claimed provenance over the idea & successfully sued Buckingham for making & selling the product (possible out of court settlement). I wouldn't hold this in any way as fact because it was only hearsay but all part of the history none the less.

 

As Craig said, not really changed arb much but it was definately one of the additions to the tool box that encouraged people to begin thinking that there could be other possibilities in how to approach their work. Just look at what has followed that lead! Kind of funny to remember climbing on a pulley in 1993 & thinking that it was far too slick & therefore must be dangerous.

 

Craig, do you remember the German climbers being banned from using a VT at the Lancaster comp in 1995. Funny things do happen. Look at us all now. Trying, testing, changing, tweaking, spending etc. The tree is still the tree though!

 

Cheers

Nod

[kevin bingham]

yeah I guess saying that it changed arboriculture is a bit of an exaggeration. Setting a ring to ring is one of those things that I love doing in front of little kids, or anybody really. I can imagine it being an ancient trick forgotten and remembered a few times.

[Craig Johnson]

sure do nod, and we thought a blake with a prussic minder was sooo fast!!

 

a lot of products were 'reinvented' in the USA and sold back to europe, at that time.

 

not much testing then, just a great time to think out of the box. i think much of the work been done now is still 'just' refining the changes made then IMO

[High Scale]

Interesting, a couple of years ago I found a friction saver hung high in a Oak, it was made with red webbing material, had a normal alloy ring on one end with this ring on the other, (Ignore the Marlow cord, it's now a dog collar) Is this one of the early friction savers?