Patent ID: 7857099

Claim:
A retractable lanyard mechanism for use by a worker, the worker having a back and legs, comprising: a pair of retractable lanyards contained in a single housing, the housing has at least one pay out nozzle that cooperates with at least one guide that divides the pay out nozzle and separating the lanyards, the nozzle allowing the retractable lanyards to be drawn or retracted from the housing, each retractable lanyard comprising: a drum that is rotatably supported from within said single housing, the drum holding the lanyard in a spooled manner on the drum, the drum being connected to a locking mechanism that locks the drum in response to a level of momentum achieved by the rotation of the drum, the locking mechanism comprising teeth on the drum and a pawl that pivots in response to sudden acceleration of the drum to engage at least one of the teeth on the drum to stop rotation of the drum, the rotation axis of the drum of each retractable lanyard being non-coaxial and generally parallel with the rotation axis of the drum of the other retractable lanyard and connected to a retraction spring, so that the lanyards are paid out in a parallel fashion to one another from a same side of each drum and are retracted by the retraction spring to take up slack in each lanyard; and a harness, the harness having a dorsal portion that is adapted for extending over worker's back and includes a set of leg straps, the single housing being pivotally supported from the dorsal portion of the harness allowing the at least one nozzle to point away from the leg straps such that the housing is positioned between the pair of retractable lanyards and the harness and so that the single housing lays over the back of the worker, away from the legs of the worker when the harness is worn by the worker and so that the single housing pays out lanyard away from the legs of the worker from the back of the worker in the event of a fall, and whereby the pair of retractable lanyards are supported from the harness, so that the location of one of the lanyards can be ascertained by tracing the other lanyard.