Anyone who’s done yard work or landscaping knows about sore muscles and aching backs. A Canadian landscaper designed The Portable Support Tool Balancer to spare his back from otherwise grueling outdoor work.
The device consists of a back brace-like harness and spring-loaded pulley system that eases the heavy burden of lifting, handling and using weighty, hand-held equipment such as hedge trimmers and pole chainsaws. A swiveling vertical pole attached the harness sits above the user’s head. At the top of the pole, a spring-loaded take-up reel is attached to a cable which extends down in front of the user. The cable attaches to the balance point of whatever tool is used.
The Portable Support Tool Balancer reduces 95 percent of the weight from the operator’s shoulders and arms, distributing it across his/her body. Before designing this, the Tool’s inventor had suffered torn shoulder tendons after using a 22-pound hedge trimmer and a pole chain saw for years.
Uses for this simple yet awesomely useful gadget include shoveling snow, using it as a construction shovel to lifting a variety of heavy hand-held construction tools. The operator simply guides the tool in whatever direction necessary, without actually lifting it. No word on the price, but with something this useful and injury-preventing, it’s worth the cost.