Stobie pole

Original 1924 Stobie pole (left) next to a modern Stobie pole (right) at the Angle Park manufacturing plant[a]
Stobie pole in an Adelaide suburb
Original Patent Application
1937 imprint

A Stobie pole is a power line pole made of two steel I-beams, joined by tie-bolts, and held apart by a slab of concrete. It was invented by Adelaide Electric Supply Company engineer James Cyril Stobie, who suggested the use of readily available materials due to the shortage of suitably long, strong, straight and termite-resistant timber in South Australia.

They have continued to be used in the state capital, Adelaide, and around South Australia ever since, and there are some in other places in Australia as well. Since the 1980s, many Stobie poles have been decorated with artworks or surrounded with plants to beautify them.
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