New Ascender Styles, New On-Board Battery Introduced

Articles, PowerQuick Ascenders

A message from

Cathy Jacobson

CEO of PowerQuick, Inc.

Customers from around the world have conducted trials pitting PowerQuick head-to-head against other technologies and in every case we have come out on top. The PowerQuick Ascender has proved far superior in performance and (even more importantly) safety than any copy-cat technology competitors are trying to introduce and highly superior to gas-powered ascenders.

Mike training

We are proud of our record. And personally, I am very proud of our team, particularly Mike Jacobson who is the technical brains behind our products. When he formulates a design he considers safety before functionality. In the photo Mike is training quality assurance personnel on conducting hold-on -rope tests with 500 pounds. If he can’t make it safe as well as operationally sound it doesn’t even see the production line. The result was the PQ 500-1 — a darn good product that meets a lot of operational and safety needs in the rope access world. But it hasn’t ended there.

As we have gone from development to field deployment in different industries customers have asked:

• How can I get more battery range for longer climbs?
• I need a smaller battery to get into tight places
• I need to use a different rope siz
• How can I use this for horizontal application
• Can you make this explosion proof so I can use it on oil rigs?

As I take these requests to Mike he groans and says, “I don’t know if I can do that.”

But being the brilliant multi-disciplinary engineer that he is, a couple of days later he has a modification, a new procedure, a new battery design, or as in the case of the hazardous environments request, a totally major design change in the works. A bit later (sometimes within days and sometimes it takes months for major design changes, testing and regulatory approvals) we have new solutions to customer challenges.

Just this month we have introduced three new versions of the PowerQuick, a new small on-board battery, developed some new operational procedures for some applications as well as introduced some optional modifications for specific applications. You can see these on the Edge Ascension Products page.

Our thanks to all our customers and distributors, who have given us such valuable feedback (and caused a few headaches for Mike). It is because of your participation that PowerQuick will remain top in the industry.

Follow this site, as we will soon announce our own line of climbing accessories for our customers who like one-stop shopping within the next couple of weeks.

And finally, watch out for companies that are trying to quickly come up with a product “just like” the PowerQuick. Anyone can stick a motor on a capstan, but I wouldn’t want to bet my life on it. They may make it cheaper, but is it safe. Also, does it have the operational features of the PowerQuick? We spent 4 years and more than $3 million on development and testing, with safety being the overriding concern. Our patented safety features allow the PowerQuick to survive a drop shock with 500 pounds and still hold on rope.

When we began development of the PowerQuick there were no standards for man-rated powered personal ascenders. We worked with a variety of agencies and poured through volumes of regulations and standards to develop safety requirements that are the most stringent in the industry, than designed to those standards. So, before you put you life at risk with a potentially inferior product, ask one of our distributors and one of theirs for a head-to-head safety test. Your loved one will thank you.

admin @ May 7, 2008