Stobie pole
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Stobie pole is a telegraph pole made of two long pieces of steel held together by a slab of concrete in the middle. It was invented by Adelaide Electricity Supply Company design engineer, James Cyril Stobie (1895-1953). He used the materials easily at hand due to the shortage of timber caused by the arid and treeless nature of much of South Australia. His invention of two spare pieces of railway track bolted together with cement in the middle, was patented in 1924.
Its construction is a composite of a steel beam on either side, connected intermitently by threaded rod, with the gap between the beams filled with concrete. The poles are tapered from ground level to the top, where the steel beams meet, and are typically welded together. This construction utilises the tensile properties of the steel, giving the poles excellent properties in bending.
The first poles were erected in South Terrace, Adelaide in 1924, and were then used extensively in building the electricity infrustructure throughout the state. It is now commonly regarded as a South Australian icon[1]. ETSA Utilities manufactures Stobie Poles at their Manufacturing Plant in Angle Park, South Australia.
The invention proved fireproof, rotproof, and termiteproof, and their strong construction has often proven fatal to occupants of vehicles which smash into them.
They have been described as hideous, with attempts to beautify their appearance through Stobie Pole gardens[2] and stobie pole art projects[3]. Renowned artist Clifton Pugh painted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden without any clothes on a stobie pole in 1984, but was requested to "cover up" the genitals on his painting.[4]
