Patent ID: 7500290
Filing Date: 2009-03-10
Classification: A62B,A63B,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A device, offering safety functionalities for rock climbing heretofore only provided by multiple devices and uniquely suited as a back-up safety device for a solo climbing belay device, which when joined to a rope allows easy relative movement between said rope and said device when a first portion of said device is gripped and pulled with respect to either end of said rope, but can jam said rope against movement when a second portion of said device is constrained from movement and an end of said rope is pulled with respect to said device; said rope foldable to form a first rope strand, a second rope strand, and a looped portion between said first rope strand and said second rope strand, said device comprising: a main body, a snap hook containment loop attached to said main body, and a first snap hook; said main body having a front face with an open front area, a back face with an open back area opposite said open front area, and a rope channel extending between said open front area and said open back area; said rope channel having a width, measured between two side walls of said rope channel, equal to, or larger than, two diameters of said rope and a height approximately equal to one diameter of said rope; when viewed along said width of said rope channel, a middle portion of said back face being recessed from two end portions of said back face; a sloping recessed face and a non-sloping recessed face being formed by the recess of said middle portion; when viewed from said back face toward said front face, said sloping recessed face sloping toward said non-sloping recessed face more than said non-sloping recessed face slopes toward said sloping recessed face, the portion of said sloping recessed face nearest said front face being less than one rope diameter in distance from the side wall of said rope channel nearest said non-sloping recessed face; when in use as a rope jam said first rope strand and said second rope strand extending through said rope channel and said looped portion extending beyond said back face, said first snap hook positioned through both said looped portion and said snap hook containment loop and closed, the end of said rope extending beyond said front face on the side of said first snap hook nearest said sloping recessed face being the end causing said device to jam said rope if pulled with respect to said device.