Bucket Cable Cutter Solved Big Problem

Bucket Cable Cutter Solved Big Problem TRACTORS Loaders 24-2-37 n Walter and Philip Miller yanked a 5-ft. deep AT&T transcontinental phone cable out of the ground on their farm, their biggest problem in handling the unused 3-in. dia. cable was figuring out how to cut it up. The men had decided to sell of part of their farm for building lots, but AT&T had an easement across it which was not being used but which contained the old cable. They worked with AT&T to move the easement to another section of the farm but they needed to pull the cable out of the ground. AT&T would have done the work but at a pretty stiff price. They decided to do it themselves. Pulling the cable out was not much problem. They dug down 3 ft. or so with a backhoe and then pulled it out with a front-end loader. The biggest problem was disposing of it. The cable could not be sawed up because it contains lead. The only method allowed is to shear it. The men hit on the idea of adding a shear to the bucket on their IH payloader. They bolted a sharpened 3/8-in. thick piece of 2-ft. square steel plate to the side of the bucket. They also sharpened the edge of the bucket so that as the cutting plate scissors back and forth, both sharp edges shear through the cable. They also welded a cross piece of angle iron to the bucket to rest the cable on as it was cut and fed through. The 4-ft. long cut-up sections were then dropped to the ground as the bucket opened up for the next cut. "We cut up 1,300 ft. in six hours, saving more than $2,000 in company charges," notes Walter. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Walter & Phillip Miller, 9182 Knox School Rd., Minerva, Ohio 44657 (ph 330 894-2828).

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