Patent ID: 8172499

Claim:
A method of enabling a raise climber to be useable in a plurality of raises in a mine, the method comprising: for each of a plurality of said raises, attaching a respective one of a plurality of starter blocks to an existing rail used in a corresponding one of said plurality of raises, each of said starter blocks comprising a respective first body with a first rail configured to align with said existing rail used in a respective raise, a first interface for mating with the existing rail used in the respective raise to facilitate movement of said raise climber from said starter block onto said existing rail, and a second interface for mating with a transporter carrying said raise climber to facilitate movement of said raise climber from said transporter to said starter block; supporting said transporter on a transport vehicle, said transporter comprising a second body with a second rail configured to carry said raise climber and to align with each of the first rails on the plurality of starter blocks, and a third interface for mating with each of said second interfaces on said plurality of starter blocks to align said first and second rails for permitting movement of said raise climber from said transporter onto any one of said starter blocks; supporting said raise climber on said transporter; deploying said raise climber onto one of said starter blocks to permit said raise climber to be used in the corresponding one of said plurality of raises; enabling said raise climber to return to said transporter; moving said transporter to another one of said starter blocks; and deploying said raise climber onto another one of said starter blocks to permit said raise climber to be used in another one of said plurality of raises.