Patent ID: 7374149

Claim:
Apparatus for facilitating installation of a line by an installer, one end of said line being connected from a first elevated connector mounted on an erected utility pole located at one side of a roadway and the other end of said line being connected to another like-elevated connector mounted on a building located on the opposite side of said roadway, said apparatus located on said opposite side of said roadway and comprising: a base; a vertical member extending upward from said base; and a mechanism mounted at the top end of said vertical member, said mechanism including: means for permitting a line to be fed through said mechanism in a first direction; means for engaging said line to prevent said line from displacement in a direction opposite to said first direction thereby permitting said installer to connect said other end to said another connector; and means for disengaging said line in response to a downward displacement of said vertical member without disturbing the connections of said one end and said other end; wherein said permitting means includes: two spring-loaded roller devices, each one of said devices being rotatable only in one direction, the spring forces in said spring-loaded devices tending to pull said rollers together into a first roller position in which the axes of rotation of the roller devices are generally parallel; and a latch for helping to maintain said roller devices in said first roller position and in a manner that said devices rotate in said one direction when said line is displaced in said first direction.