GB2421894A

GB2421894A - A gear sling

Info

Publication number: GB2421894A
Application number: GB0500331A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Steven White
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-01-08
Filing date: 2005-01-08
Publication date: 2006-07-12
Also published as: GB0500331D0

Abstract

A gear sling comprising a padded shoulder strap 1 from which an elasticated material is attached at both ends to form a sling 2 upon which climbing equipment can be detachably attached. The gear sling allows climbing protection to be placed in position before detaching it from the gear sling thus reducing the risk of dropping the climbing protection before it has been made secure. Preferably attached to the elasticated sling are a number of sliding loops 8 which are each attached to a strap via a rotating link that accommodates a standard karabiner upon which climbing equipment may be detachably attached. Preferably the tension of the elasticated material may be varied by a tension adjuster 4 to allow differing weights of climbing gear to be maintained in the correction position in relation to the wearer. The elasticated material may be enclosed within a protective flexible tubing 6 to prevent excessive wear.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Extendable Gear Sling This invention relates to a Gear Sling.

Gear Slings are items of climbing equipment used to carry climbing protection, such as friend, rocks, and chocks. Standard Gear Slings can vary from a length of tape webbing tied into a loop to fit over a climber's shoulder, to a padded adjustable sling with individual loops to carry climbing protection.

Such Gear Slings are well known pieces of equipment, but suffer from the disadvantage that, when you have selected a piece of climbing protection and proceed to place it in position you have to detach the climbing protection from the Gear Sling making it vulnerable to being dropped.

The object of this invention is to provide a Gear Sling, which allows climbing protection to be placed in position before detaching it from the Gear Sling thus reducing the risk of dropping the climbing protection before it has been made secure.

It can also be used in the reverse order to retrieve climbing protection by attaching the climbing protection to the gear sling before it is released from the anchor position.

Accordingly, this invention provides an Extendable Gear Sling, which consists of a padded adjustable shoulder strap from which extendable material is attached at both ends.

Tension on the slings can be varied to allow for differing weights of climbing protection to maintain the correct position. The Extendable Gear Sling will allow freedom of movement within the stretch of the material.

Preferably the Extendable Gear Sling is made of nylon, metal, elasticized rubber, plastic and high density foam.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: FIGURE 1 Shows a overall view of the Extendable Gear Sling; FIGURE 2 Shows the rotating karabiner link; FIGURE 3 Shows a detailed view of the tensioner adjustments on the expandable material; FIGURE 4 Shows the protective flexible tubing with end guides; FIGURE 5 Shows the Extendable Gear Sling in its relaxed and extended positions.

Refethng to the drawings, the Extendable Gear Sling comprising of a padded adjustable shoulder strap 1 from which two Extendable Gear Slings are attached 2 with a rotatable links 3 In order to operate the Extendable Gear Sling, the equipment that is required can be selected then placed anywhere within arms length as shown in Fig 5. Once the climbing protection is securely located it can then be released allowing the sling to return to the original position.

To reduce the problem of entanglement caused by twisting a rotatable link is used as shown in Fig 2. This to allow the karabiner to turn through 360 degrees The Extendable Gear Sling tension adjuster 4 allows adjustment to be made to cater for the variation in weight of the equipment shown in Fig 3, maintaining the correct position.

In order to provide some protection to the extendable material 7, flexible tubing 6 with end guides 5 are used as illustrated in Fig 4.

Claims

1. An Extendable Gear Sling comprising of a padded adjustable shoulder strap from which extendable material is attached at both ends so that the Extendable Gear Sling can be increased and decreased in length by the stretch of the material.

Tension on the slings can be varied to allow for differing weights of climbing protection.

2. The Extendable Gear Sling as claim 1 will include a number of loops attached to rotating links, these are fixed to flexible straps, enabling any standard karabiner to be used.

3. The Extendable Gear Sling as claim I and 2 will include adjustable toggles, to enable the tension on the extendable material to be varied according to the weight of the climbing equipment.

4. The Extendable Gear Sling as claim 1, 2 and 3 will include protective flexible tubing with end guides to restrict excessive wear on the extendable material.