Patent ID: 8430207

Claim:
A centrifugally-operated safety device, comprising: a preassembled and pretorqued friction brake comprising at least a pressure plate, a ratchet ring, a friction ring, and a backing plate; and, a rotatable drum with a line wound thereon, the rotatable drum comprising at least one pawl that is biased toward a first position in which the pawl does not engage the ratchet ring of the friction brake, wherein rotating the drum above a predetermined speed causes the pawl to be centrifugally urged into a second configuration in which the pawl engages the ratchet brake, wherein the rotatable drum is rotatably connected to a housing, and wherein the preassembled and pretorqued friction brake is nonrotatably mated to the housing such that at least one mating feature of the friction brake is mated to at least one complementary mating feature of the housing so as to prevent at least the backing plate of the friction brake from rotating upon the engaging of the pawl with the ratchet ring; the complementary mating feature of the housing comprises a first receptacle and wherein the at least one mating feature of the friction brake comprises a protruding member that mates with the first receptacle by extending at least partially into to the first receptacle, the at least one protruding member of the friction brake comprises a portion of a shank of a bolt used to preassemble and pretorque the friction brake, and wherein the portion of the shank protrudes through the pressure plate and through the backing plate and into the first receptacle to fasten the plates and the rings together; the friction brake is configured so that, upon the engaging of the at least one pawl with the ratchet ring, the ratchet ring can rotate relative to the housing of the safety device brake.