Safety device for a solitary mountaineer and method of its operation

Abstract

Abstract 1. Safety apparatus for solo climber, adapted to be suspended from an individual gripping device for protection against drops from a height and to be fastened to a smooth safety rope, characterised in that it comprises an oblong casing (1) constituted on one side by a first cheek element (2), on the other side by a second cheek element (3), the opposite faces of said cheek elements being flat, parallel to each other and connected : - at the top of the casing by means of a suspension bridge (4), - on the sides of the median part of the casing on the right by means of a first bridge (5), on the left by means of a second bridge (6), said bridges being opposite each other, converging towards the lower part of the casing, - on the sides of the lower part, on the right by means of a third bridge (7), on the left by means of a fourth bridge (8) and in the interior of said part by means of a fifth bridge (9) converging in the direction ot the median part of the casing with the third bridge (7), forming therewith a first sliding element (10) and with the fourth bridge (8) a second sliding element (11), the first sliding element (10) being partially obturated at the separative limit of said median and lower parts of the casing by means of a fixed stop (12) in relief on the inner face of the second cheek element (2) and opposite said separative limit by means of a block (13) fixed between the first and the second cheek element against the fifth bridge (9) and forming with the lower end of the third bridge (7) an orifice for guiding the safety rope, an idle pulley (15) suspended from the casing between the first and the second cheek element at the separative limit of the upper and median parts of the casing via an articulated mechanical system (17, 18) maintaining it in fixed position on said limit by the effect of the stresses of elastic connection means (20, 21, 24) acting on said articulated mechanical system and allowing said pulley in one direction to be extracted from the casing and in the opposite direction to be driven in a mobile path between the first and second bridges until it touches the fixed stop then exerting in this position a pressure on the rope against said bridges, the diametrical median plane of said pulley remaining substantially merged with the median plane of the casing, a straight cylinder (16), of free axial rotation, adapted to move inside the space defined in the casing by the third (7) and fifth (9) bridges, the stop (12) and the block (13), and of which the diametrical median plane remains substantially merged with the median plane of the casing.

Inventors

• 👤 Philippe Beriel

Bibliographic Details