needed depends on the weight of the pole. The procedure is as follows:

a. Dig a hole about 2 feet deep for the base of the gin pole.

b. Run out the guys to their respective anchorages and assign a man to each anchorage to control the slack in the guy line with a round turn around the anchorage as the pole is raised. If it has not been done already, install an anchorage for the base of the pole.

c. If necessary, the tackle system used to raise and lower the load can be used to assist in raising the gin pole, but the attaching of an additional tackle system to the rear guy line is preferable. Attach the running block of the rear guy line tackle system (fig. 6-52) to the rear guy line end which at this point is near the base of the gin pole. The fixed or stationary block is then secured to the rear anchor. The fall line should come out of the running block to give greater mechanical advantage to the tackle system. The tackle system is stretched to the base of the pole before it is erected to prevent the chocking of the tackle blocks during the erection of the gin pole.

d. Keep a slight tension on the rear guy line, and on each of the side guy lines, haul in on the fall line of the tackle system while eight men (more for larger poles) raise the top of the pole by hand until the tackle system can take control.

e. The rear guy line must be kept under tension to prevent the pole from swinging and throwing all of its weight on one of the side guys.

f. When the pole is in its final position, approximately vertical or inclined as desired make all guys fast to their anchorages with the round turn and two half hitches. It is often advantageous to double the portion of rope used for the half hitches.

g. Open the leading block at the base of the gin pole and place the fall line from the tackle system through it. When the leading block is closed, the gin pole is ready for use. If it is necessary to move (drift) the top of the pole without moving the base, it should be done when there is no load on the pole unless the guys are equipped with tackle.

3. Operating. The gin pole is perfectly suited to vertical lifts. It also is used under some circumstances for lifting and pulling at the same time so that the load being moved travels toward the gin pole just off the ground. When used in this manner, a snubbing line of some kind must be attached to the other end of the load being dragged and kept under tension at all times. Tag lines are to be used to control loads being lifted vertically. A tag line is a light line fastened to one end of the load and kept under slight tension during hoisting.

TRIPODS

A tripod consists of three legs lashed or secured at the top. The advantage of the tripod over other rigging installations is its stability, and it requires no guy lines to hold it in place. The disadvantage of a tripod is that the load can be moved only up and down. The load capacity of a tripod is approximately 1 1/2 times that of shears made of the same-size material.

Figure 6-51. - Erecting a gin pole.