Electrically insulated boom mountable temporary conductor guard structure

An electrically insulated temporary conductor guard structure to capture energized conductors as they sag or drop during stringing operations, wherein the conductor guard structure is mountable to a distal end of a crane or truck boom and comprises:

• a) at least one elongate electrical insulator adapted to be mounted to the distal end of the crane or boom at one end thereof, wherein, when the conductor guard structure is an operative orientation, the at least one electrical insulator extends vertically from the distal end of the crane or truck boom;
• b) a rigid U-shaped frame adapted to be mounted to a second opposite end of the at least one electrical insulator, wherein the U-shaped frame includes an elongate horizontal beam having a pair of stub arms extending out of co-linearity with the beam and from opposite ends of the beam, and wherein, in the operative orientation of the conductor guard structure, the beam is perpendicular relative to the at least one electrical insulator and the pair of stub arms extend upwardly from the opposite ends of the beam forming an included angle with the beam wherein each of the pair of stub arms is mounted to the beam so that the included angle is at least 90 degrees to capture the energized conductors upon their sagging or dropping, and the pair of stub arms and the beam define an upper interior perimeter extending along and on upper surfaces of the length of the beam and the length of each of the stub arms of the pair of stub arms;
• and
• c) elongate, electrically conductive rollers rotatably mounted, adjacent and parallel to each of the stub arms of the pair of stub arms and the beam so as to form an electrically conductive rolling surface around the upper interior perimeter extending along the lengths of the beam and the stub arms, wherein the electrically conductive rollers have corresponding axes of rotation which are also adjacent to and parallel to each of the stub arms and the beam, and wherein, in the operative orientation of the conductor guard structure, as the sagged or dropped energized conductors are being supported on the electrically conductive rolling surface, a charging current on the sagged or dropped energized conductors is conducted by the electrically conductive rollers to the U-shaped frame to prevent burning or melting of the electrically conductive rollers and the charging current is prevented from reaching the distal end of the crane or truck boom as the U-shaped frame is electrically isolated from the distal end of the crane or truck boom by the at least one insulator,
• wherein a length of each of the stub arms is adjustable by a length adjustment means selected from the group consisting of telescoping stub arms and modular stub arms, wherein the modular stub arms include stub arm sections that are connectable lengthwise to one another.