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It seems to me a double tapered pole could be made that would eliminate the need for a sail piece be lighter and with greater hoop strength. You could use a mold with and inflatable blader over which is stretched a tubular braid of composite materials. (Think Chinese finger trap) Multiple layers, different materials, angle of the weave and moving the tapers around should do it. Any body game?

What would you make the inflatable bladder out of? How would you get it to inflate to precisely the same shape every time?

Silicone rubber and the blader would conform to the inside of the mold. Poles are made now with an external silicone rubber blader. You could could infact increase the density of the laminate over the poles now produced. Read big deal.

I'm having a hard time picturing something that would inflate to precisely the same shape every time, be rigid enough to not change shape as the pole is wrapped around it, and yet deflate easily enough to be removed from the inside of the pole.

Doesn't the sail peace tell the pole wear to bend? So without it the pole bend would be really big and rounded instead of high... ?

The bladder can expand only to the outside of the mold. Gill makes their carbon fiber javes this way now. The sail piece is a attempt to do what a larger cross section does with less material. The size and length of taper would allow you to control how the pole acts. Now thats a great idea how about a programable pole that you could modify the charteristics of or an active pole that automatically changes. Don't laugh electronics, programing in the plug controlling feromagnetic fluid in carbon nanotubes in much the same way active suspenions work.

Lyndell is correct in his basic premise but what he is not considering is the challenge to lay up this type of pole which could be done but would be much harder than the present layup. But the real impediment to his idea is cost. Now the mandrel which corresponds to his bag, lasts for years and years thus thousands and thousands of poles. His inflatable bag would be a one time per pole thing. but the biggest cost would come in having to have literally hundreds of very expensive molds for each length, weight and possible flex model of pole, these poles would end up costing many thousands of dollars each. So a great idea just very hard to manufacture and not fiscally possible.
Vault On

Good point and the bottom line. I do think the internal blader could be reused many times however the external mold is an opportunity. If someone could figure this out they would have a better pole than is curently being produced. What if some world class vaulter showed up with one of these and set a world record?

Lyndell Farmer wrote:What if some world class vaulter showed up with one of these and set a world record?

It would soon be made illegal....

VaultPurple wrote:

Lyndell Farmer wrote:What if some world class vaulter showed up with one of these and set a world record?

It would soon be made illegal....

Not necessarily. I think IAAF is currently more open to advances in pole technology than they were in the 1970s. I don't think they would welcome a change that suddenly made everyone vault 5 feet higher, but I don't think they'd be opposed to a lighter pole.

All I see this doing is making the pole lighter by needing less material.

I don't think it hurts to go down this road just to make sure we aren't overlooking the next fiberglass pole. (And someone else doesn't) With that in mind I was in my garage last nite and I noticed that there was a double tapered carbon fiber strut on a 6 year old mountain bike, so bike makers do it. Which comes to the next point has anyone experimented with pressurizing a pole, more pressure would make it stiffer and less pressure would make it softer, possibly moving the pressure chamber higher or lower would alter the charteristics like moving the sail piece. This could possibly return some of the lost energy that the pole never returns. You could pressurize a lower chamber then release it to an upper chamber at an advantagous time. I think this would be legal as the rules are written now.

Lyndell Farmer wrote:Which comes to the next point has anyone experimented with pressurizing a pole, more pressure would make it stiffer and less pressure would make it softer, possibly moving the pressure chamber higher or lower would alter the charteristics like moving the sail piece.

A German company tried this in the 70's. Not sure on the specifics but it was a gas filled pole. It never made it into mass production.