Patent ID: 7080716

Claim:
A fall-preventing mechanism including: walls that define a longitudinal groove through which a safety cable passes and a longitudinal slot through which the safety cable is loaded into and removed from the longitudinal groove; the walls supporting a pivoting lever having a safety cable engaging cam, the lever being pivotable between (1) an open position in which the safety cable is receivable through the slot into the groove, (2) an intermediate position in which the lever extends across a lower portion of the slot, and (3) a locking position in which the cam engages the safety cable and prevents downward longitudinal movement of the fall-preventing mechanism relative to the safety cable; and a pawl pivotally mounted to the walls adjacent an upper end of the slot to pivot between a first orientation for receiving the cable through the slot and a second orientation during use, the pawl having: a lateral arm which permits the cable to be received in the slot in the first orientation and which extends across and closes the upper end of the slot to prevent the safety cable from entering or exiting through the slot in the second orientation, and a lower arm which blocks the lever from pivoting past the intermediate position toward the open position in the second orientation and which permits the lever to rotate to the open position in the first orientation.