ptero
Active Member
We have two Tallescopes at our theatre. Regarding the latch mechanisms: There are two sets of latches for holding the ladder in the vertical position. Each set consists of two independent latches so there are 4 items securing it vertically.
When raising the ladder from the lowered position one set snaps into place, then you manually set the other two. This has always been extremely solid and if set properly, quite secure.
The weak spot, it seems to me, is the "bucket locking pins". I'm guessing but I suspect these are what is being referenced as pins earlier and what may have dropped the user to his death. How tragic - and preventable with proper use.
At the top of the ladder/base of the bucket, there is a pivot point that allows the bucket to swing down. If that occured during use, it would dump the occupant out. The purpose of allowing the bucket to pivot is to make the unit shorter when the ladder is down, saving room backstage or in a truck pack. We virtually never need to do this.
The two Bucket Locking Pins keep that from happening while in use. They are very solid pins that are held in place by a very dodgy clip (don't know what to call it). We have added tiewraps to both pins/clips. The tiewrap prevents the clip from loosening and keeps the pins in place.
My standard story shared during training is about coming out of the bucket after a couple hours of use... One of the pins had worked it's way out of the holes and was hanging loose by the 1/16" that only kept the pin from falling to the deck. The other pin kept the bucket up but that was still pretty scary when I saw that as climbing down. One pin had been holding the bucket, and me, up.
Over years of use I have seen these pins continually shift sideways and try to exit the holes they are set in - just with the regular use. I consider it unusable w/o the tiewrap in place. NO ONE goes up if a tie is missing.
One accident I am aware of, at a nearby venue, involved the ground crew managing to drop a wheel off the edge of the stage and it, with a guy in the bucket, toppled into the house and broke his back as it/he crumpled over the seats.
I'm not an apologist for the Tallescope, but it can be used safely if done with a brain. Pay attention to the various latches, maintain the tiewraps, use outriggers properly - cha cha cha.
If desired I suppose a couple pictures could be scored. That's all I got!
When raising the ladder from the lowered position one set snaps into place, then you manually set the other two. This has always been extremely solid and if set properly, quite secure.
The weak spot, it seems to me, is the "bucket locking pins". I'm guessing but I suspect these are what is being referenced as pins earlier and what may have dropped the user to his death. How tragic - and preventable with proper use.
At the top of the ladder/base of the bucket, there is a pivot point that allows the bucket to swing down. If that occured during use, it would dump the occupant out. The purpose of allowing the bucket to pivot is to make the unit shorter when the ladder is down, saving room backstage or in a truck pack. We virtually never need to do this.
The two Bucket Locking Pins keep that from happening while in use. They are very solid pins that are held in place by a very dodgy clip (don't know what to call it). We have added tiewraps to both pins/clips. The tiewrap prevents the clip from loosening and keeps the pins in place.
My standard story shared during training is about coming out of the bucket after a couple hours of use... One of the pins had worked it's way out of the holes and was hanging loose by the 1/16" that only kept the pin from falling to the deck. The other pin kept the bucket up but that was still pretty scary when I saw that as climbing down. One pin had been holding the bucket, and me, up.
Over years of use I have seen these pins continually shift sideways and try to exit the holes they are set in - just with the regular use. I consider it unusable w/o the tiewrap in place. NO ONE goes up if a tie is missing.
One accident I am aware of, at a nearby venue, involved the ground crew managing to drop a wheel off the edge of the stage and it, with a guy in the bucket, toppled into the house and broke his back as it/he crumpled over the seats.
I'm not an apologist for the Tallescope, but it can be used safely if done with a brain. Pay attention to the various latches, maintain the tiewraps, use outriggers properly - cha cha cha.
If desired I suppose a couple pictures could be scored. That's all I got!
Last edited:
