I’ve seen flagpoles that pivot at the bottom, and have a bit over 90 degrees of worm gear in the pivot. There’s a worm you turn to raise and lower the pole as a cantilever. Beautiful big cast steel gears. Is there a special name for this? I’ve been googling images with every description I’ve thought of but have turned up nary a one.
Sounds like a new Pole-ish variant.
Moved from QZ to GQ.
I posted in QZ? Whoops – how’d I do that??
Thank you!
Big fat quadrant gear at the base? Saw one of those once. Don’t recall it was a very big pole, maybe 10 or 12 feet?
Yeah, maybe. Tell you why I want it to know what it’s called. First, I think big cast gears are gorgeous. Second, Ms. Napier wants a martin house, but they have to be cleaned regularly she says. So, I thought… well…
Not a bad idea, and I get off on big cast gears also.
If that’s your goal, why not just a hinge at the bottom of the flagpole?
Try using the keyword ‘hinged’. That gets me a lot of results. None that I saw with a giant gear, but a lot with either steel cables and pulleys or a spring loaded mechanism to lower the entire thing so the pole is laying down on the ground (usually used for changing light bulbs without needing a cherry picker).
I the world of radio antennas, a tower or mast like this is called a tilt over, though I don’t recall any with a worm gear drive.
A lot seem to be deadweight counterbalanced, too.
For that reason I looked up 'Bascule Flagpole;, but got no relevant hits.
The GQ thread about birds and their spots along with this thread got me interested in Purple Martin houses, and that led me to this Martin House plan that shows a simple pulley and crank lifting system. Not what you were looking for but perhaps better than a simple hinged pole.
Now thinking about making one of these houses. Or maybe a bat house.
Not a worm gear, but check this company’s site for a flagpole - recommended for use with a “lowering winch”: