Patent ID: 11865380
Assignee: 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY
Field: Mechanical elements (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC A  F | IPC A

Claim 17:
18. A fall-protection apparatus comprising:
a drum with a safety line connected thereto and that is rotatable relative to a housing of the apparatus; and,
a rotationally-activated braking device that comprises at least one pawl and at least one ratchet with at least one tooth that is engagable by an engaging end of the at least one pawl,
wherein the pawl is a flexure-borne pawl that is attached to a flexure arm;
wherein the apparatus comprises a pawl-support plate that is rotatable relative to the drum through an arc of partial rotation and that comprises a flexure arm anchor that protrudes axially from the pawl-support plate and to which the flexure arm is attached,
and wherein the drum comprises at least one camming bollard that is fixed to the drum and protrudes axially from the drum so as to extend through an elongate slot in the pawl-support plate so that a portion of the camming bollard resides within a space radially inward of the pawl and/or radially inward of a leading segment of the flexure arm; wherein the pawl comprises a radially-inward major surface that is a contact surface that is configured to impinge on the camming surface of the camming bollard and to slidably move along the camming surface of the camming bollard in a generally circumferentially rearward direction; and, wherein the contact surface of the pawl is a radially-inward-sloping surface.