Patent ID: 7125197
Filing Date: 2006-10-24
Classification: E01F

Abstract:
1. A vehicle stopping system including a vehicle capture net disposed between a pair of towers, each tower including a stanchion comprising: a shaft; a pair of spaced apart spools coupled to the shaft; a corresponding pair of straps having one end coupled to one of the pair of spools and the other end coupled to one side of the net, each strap being wound on one of the spools; and braking means coupled to the shaft and operatively connected to the spools for providing a restraining force of increasing magnitude on the straps as the straps are unwound from the spools, where the braking means comprises a mechanical brake providing a braking force proportional to the degree of compression of the mechanical brake, having two braking surfaces in frictional relationship with each other and where the degree of compression is the magnitude of displacement of one braking surface relative to the other braking surface, where the magnitude of displacement of one braking surface relative to the other braking surface comprises the screw advance of the spools on the shaft toward the brake as caused by the unwinding of the straps from the spools where the shaft and spools are provided with and engaged with each other by a flat faced screw with a thread-to-thread clearance of at least 0.010 inch.