Tree bicycle in action
The photograph is courtesy of Inverness, Ross and Skye Forest District and staff at their Fort Augustus office.
No information on this slide but could be in the Newton Nursery area and around 1975. The operator has each foot in a foot stirrup attached to a variable diameter circular steel band loosened and adjusted manually by operating clamping screws. The top band with longer leg stirrup is lifted by the strapped in foot to a higher level and the operation repeated with the lower band and shorter stirrup.
Large rubber pads on front midpoint of each stirrup leg are levered against the tree bark by the weight of the operator standing in each stirrup counteracted by the steel band fixed to the top of the stirrup leg. By taking the weight off a leg and kicking the heel back the rubber pad is freed from the tree bark, the steel band is then lifted by the same foot further up and weight applied to lock the foot and band in a new position. Progression up the tree is by repeating these movements.
The tree has to be clean limbed and free of branches as far as possible (often cut by hand saw on the way up) and the steel bands have to be reduced in diameter and reclamped as the tree stem reduces with height. The operator wears a belt to which is attached a safety wire which passes around the back of the tree. Also attached is the long safety line and spare safety strops which come into use once the operator reaches the branches in the crown of the tree, steps out of the bicycle and free climbs among the live green crown branches to collect cones, pollen or shoot samples.
Can anyone describe their experiences using this machine?
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