Cable koala Impresses

Graham Gillam came up with the concept for his invention while working as a linesman- rigging up electricity and communication connections for the Australian Army.

Constantly climbing ladders to access trees and poles to string up makeshift lines with wire gave the Bellambi resident an idea.

“I thought, ‘I’m hanging up on a ladder at fairly precarious angles and it’s fairly unsafe, there’s got to be a better way of doing it,’” he said.

That ‘better way’ became a contraption made primarily from a car seatbelt, set with metal hoops which could be ratcheted tight over almost any point of pole or tree and hold heavy wires and cables.

Mr Gillam called his invention the Cable Koala.

He was recently asked to appear on ABC TV’s The New Inventors to show it off, and took home the people’s choice award for his trouble.

Mr Gillam has now progressed from the seat-belt using prototype to a much more durable Cable Koala and said the strength of the system is impressive.

“Now it’s to the stage where you could hang an elephant off it,” he said.

“I’ve had it tested and it breaks at 2.5 tonnes.”

Mr Gillam said he had emergency services and armed forces in mind when he built the Cable Koala, but now sees a huge range of possibilities for how it could be used.

“The reason I came up with it was for use as a temporary cable support device, ideally to be used in emergency services, army, police, rescue etc. but it has so many applications, such as it could be used in the constriction field, mining, outdoor staging events and rock concerts.”

Mr Gillam has had his invention patented and is now at the stage where he is looking for a manufacturer to pick it up and start selling it.

He said “someone will make a lot of a money from it and I’ll get a regular cheque.”

Mr Gillam is fairly confident that the Australian Army will want to use his invention, and from there the New Zealand Army might want to pick it up as well, he said.

Contact Mr Gillam at gillam.graham@gmail.com