Accelerator poles

[VaultMarq26]

In high school I jumped on a mint green accelerator pole. I went back to my HS today and jumped on it again. It is so light for the size pole it is, and it gives so much back every vault.

What does anyone know about this line of poles. I know a little. But I want to know what type of pole that is still made that they are compariable to.

[vaultwest]

VaultMarq26

Back in 1990 I was employed with KC FiberAmerica the company that manufactured the Accelerator Vaulting Pole. I along with Jim Barrier developed this pole.

What we did is to use, at the time a dramatically new material, a reverse weave unidirectional glass as the inner reinforcement wrap instead of spiral wrapping to get the hoop strength for the pole. We felt that this would give the Acc. pole as much hoop strength as spiral wrapping with out the problems that the spiral wraps may present in the initiation of the bend at takeoff.

The other major difference in this pole is that we ran the sail piece up to within 6" of the top of the pole instead of stopping it 18" below the top of the pole as all other manufacturers did and still do. We felt this added glass would give more power back to the athlete at the end of the jump. We did no specific scientific test to determine if we were correct in these assumptions but many vaulters that used the Accerators seemed to feel this was so, thus the pole felt lighter and more responsive than their counterparts.

Because of mismanagement by the owners and CEO of KC FiberAmerica the company went out of business in 1991 before the Accelerator pole could become well known and thus a strong pole in the US market.

Currently no Manufacturers are using these ideas/methods so Accelerator poles along with their unique performance characteristics are collector items.

[VaultMarq26]

Thanks a bunch, I only wish I could get my hands on more of them.

[Todd Haire]

Just so happens I stumbled across one three days ago and got it for dirt cheap. Its in remarkably good shape I'd be interested to know how they determine the flex #.
I'll take a few jumps on it this weekend. Should be fun.

[vaultwest]

Todd
The Accelerator poles were flexed basically in the middle while supported 6" from the bottom and 18" from the top using a 50# weight with the deflection measured in inches instead of Centimeters. Thus one needs to multiply by 2.54 to get a somewhat similar number to Pacer or Spirit pole flex numbers. Depending on the length of the pole I have found that the Acc. poles I still have are 5 to 10 pounds stiffer than they are labeled related to Pacer poles. Hope that helps.
Vault On

[Victory Sports]

Post Some Pics...

[Todd Haire]

Took it to be flexed and bent-tested. After that I took a few jumps on it at practice. Cool pole. Lightweight small diameter grip area. Smooth bend and surprising snap-back. Could have held up another fist but out of gas at that point.
Jumping today and on to last chance meet this Sunday.