Patent ID: 8074955

Claim:
A support pole, comprising: an elongated pole member comprising an upper end, an opposing lower end comprising a bottom edge, and a plurality of sides extending along a longitudinal axis of the pole member; at least one cut-out slit disposed on each of the plurality of sides, each slit extending up a predetermined length from the bottom edge of the pole member substantially towards the upper end, wherein each slit comprises a bottom end and a top end and wherein each side of the pole is angularly displaced outward away from the longitudinal axis of the pole member from a point substantially adjacent the top end of the slit to the lower end of pole member; a plurality of reinforcing members each reinforcing member covering at least one slit on one of the plurality of sides, and each reinforcing member being permanently coupled to a respective side of the elongated pole member to prevent access to the respective at least one slit covered by the reinforcing member subsequent to the reinforcing member being coupled and a hand hole aperture disposed on one of the plurality of sides above one of the cut-out slits and between the upper end and the bottom edge, the hand hole aperture configured to provide access by a human hand to an interior of the support pole.