Sometimes the simplest of inventions prove the most invaluable of tools.
Sylvain Jean, 48, a millwright with Weyerhaeuser’s Chapleau mill, is finding that a simple tool he has helped to invent is proving an invaluable tool in his day to day efforts.
“It’s a small chain tightener,” Sylvain says. “There is lots of chain to be found around a mill and this helps to tighten chain up,” he says. “It’s easy enough so that only one person can do the job instead of having two or three guys. It holds the chain for you when you’re trying to tighten it. A lot of times you run into problems when you’re trying to work on a chain and you let one end go, it falls away and it can be very difficult.”
“(The device) is fairly simple and that’s the beauty of it,” says Jean.
It can also be adapted to different sizes of chain and could even be used in settings other than a mill, such as a mine.
He describes the tightener as consisting of two fitted lengths of metal tubing, a bolt welded inside to tighten it and two claws – one on either end – to hold the chain in place. It is a variation on a design his uncle Gonzajue Blanchet invented more than 20 years ago, back when both worked for Martel Lumber in Chapleau.
“What he came up with is good, but it is a little more awkward in some conditions,” says Jean. “I was puttering around with it and thought maybe I could do something better.”
Because of its efficiency and function, it also helps to improve safety at the mill, he says. Instead of having two or three people involved with tightening something like a conveyor chain - one to remove links and the other two to hold or pull at the two ends - it actually helps in eliminating the need for extra hands.
Because of its simplicity, Jean says it also reduces the level of frustration, which can lead to people not being as careful as they should be.
As a millwright, he says it is not unusual to see handmade tools and other such innovations made for specific jobs around the workplace.
Jean has considered patenting the device, but says it is a difficult process and one that he does not feel ready to get involved with just quite yet.
