GB1598637A - Safety harness - Google Patents

Description

(54) SAFETY HARNESS (71) I, WARREN STEPHEN LIRAKIS, of 33 Howard Stree, Newport, Rhode Island 02840, United States of America, a citizen of United States of America, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to safety harnesses.

The term "safety harness" may refer in some instances to the securing of a person in a seat such as in an automobile or airplane but in this particular instance the term refers more particularly to a harness with a rope or tether to be secured to a relatively fixed point and yet allow limited movement of the person. If used in yachting, the person would be attached to the boat leaving both arms free for working on the boat, the tether serving to hold the person should he slip or be struck by a wave so that he will not be washed overboard. In mountain climbing the tether may be used for securing to some hook or the like for use in ascent or descent of the mountain. In the case of window washing the tether would be secured to the framework of the window of the building in case of slipping by the user.Devices of this sort usually are of the type with a body encircling belt and two shoulder straps secured to such belt at the front and at the back as in U.S. Patent No.

1,481,144 where no tether is shown or in a case where a tether is used as shown in U.S.

Patent No. 2,817,393 or British Patent No.

375,210 the device is more complicated and expensive than the present harness.

According to the present invention there is provided a safety harness for limited mobility of a person wearing the same, comprising two strap portions each having a width greater than its thickness, a loop at one end of each strap portion, each strap portion extending from its said loop through a point of crossing with the other strap portion to a point adjacent the loop of the other strap portion, each strap portion being of a length to extend from its loop about the body of the user to the crossing point which is intended to lie against the back of the user and from there over one shoulder of the user to said point adjacent the loop of the other strap portion, and a tether including an attaching device on at least one end, the tether being adapted to secure the loops together and to be fastened to an object.

There may be two individual strap portions secured together at their point of crossing and at said points adjacent the loops, or the two strap portions may be constituted by a continuous strap, which may include an arrangement for adjusting its length. In this latter case, one strap portion may be captive, but movable, relative to the other at the point of crossing to provide for adjustment also of the position of the crossing point at the back of the user.

The tether can have one end secured to one of the loops and can be passed through the other loop and then back through the one loop in a sufficient number of times to provide a selected length adapted to be fastened to an object.

In one alternative arrangement the tether can have an attaching device on each end, with the device at one end adapted to connect said loops together. The loops could take the form of D-rings and the tether could be a webbing strap or a length of rope.

The two embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: Figure 1 is an elevational view showing a person with a harness positioned on his body and holding one end of the tether in one hand; Figure 2 is a perspective view showing a point of crossing of straps and a stitching of the straps together at such point of crossing; Figure 3 is a fragmental view showing a point of crossing of straps and a stitching of the straps together at such point of crossing; Figure 4 is a sectional view looking down on top of one of the loops to which the tether is attached; Figure 5 is a fragmental view on a larger scale than that shown in Figure 1 showing the tether as securing the ends of the straps together;; Figure 6 is a elevational view showing another form of safety harness according to the invention; Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on lines 7-7 of Figure 6 showing the folding at the front terminal portion; and Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on lines 8-8 of Fig. 6 showing the manner in which the straps are retained in approximate position relative to each other in the portion that would normally lie in the back of the wearer.

In Fig. 1 the person of the wearer is designated generally 10 and the safety harness 11 worn by the wearer and comprising body embracing straps and a tether 12 extending therefrom.

In Fig. 2 where the safety harness is shown by itself there are two straps 14 and 15 which cross each other as at 16 and are sewed to each other as shown by the dotted lines 17 so that they are held together at their point of crossing. The strap 15 extends from its point of crossing downwardly and then inwardly about the left side of the user as shown in Fig. 2 and is provided with a loop 18 at its end while the strap 14 extends downwardly and inwardly about the right side of the user with a loop 19 at its end. The end portions of the straps having these loops extend toward each other in front of the user and may be laced together by the tether 12 as will be more fully explained below.The strap 14 extends upward in the opposite direction from the crossing at 16 over the left shoulder of the wearer and then vertically downward and is attached by sewing as at 20 to the strap 15 adjacent the loop 18, while the strap 15 extends upward in its opposite direction from the point 16 of crossing over the right shoulder of the wearer and then vertically downward and is attached by sewing to the strap 14 adjacent the loop 19 as at 21. The loops 18, 19 may, ifdesired, be separate parts attached to the ends.This arrangement provides for the straps 14 and 15 to extend over each of the shoulders of the wearer as well as about the body of the wearer to the front of the wearer where the wearer may use the tether 12 which is secured by the loop 22 to the eye 19, as shown in Fig. 2, by being doubled back back on itself and fastened as at 23 and then the free end of the tether 12 is passed through the loop 18 back and forth in loop 19 a number of times as shown in Fig. 5 and then about the laced portion between the loops with a portion 25 extending to a hook of any form 26 which may be used for attaching it to a lifeline in a sailing vessel, a hook in mountain climbing or a window frame if worn by a window washer.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that two straps such as 14 and 15 of a width much greater than their thickness may be utilized as the main portion of the safety harness forming two shoulder straps and a horizontal body embracing portion while the tether to secure together the ends of these straps which embrace the body of the user may be used as a device for holding the person from being detached from some fixed point should he slip or be accidentally dislodged in any manner from his footing. It still allows the use of both arms for work, while wearing the safety harness. The device cannot be tangled, is self-adjusting as to body encircling size, is simple, positive and inexpensive.

In Figs. 6, 7 and 8 there is illustrated another form of the invention in which the strap portions of Fig. 2 are constituted by a single strap which is wound about in the same pattern as the strap arrangement of Fig.

2 and which in lieu of having two individual straps with four ends, a single strap has two ends. The design is basically the same, that is in a figure of eight and, being constructed of one continuous piece of webbing or other strap material, it may be adjusted by providing any suitable arrangement such as a buckle, generally designated 30, in Fig. 6.

The strap is made up of a number of strap parts and it can be considered that there is a frontal part 31 which extends downwardly from the shoulder of the wearer, is folded at a 45 angle and thence passes about a D ring 33 and back on itself where it is stitched as at 35.

The strap waist part 36 thence extends about the body of the wearer and upwardly across the back where a loop is formed on the surface of the strap by stitching a flat piece 37 thereto (see Fig. 8). A strap part thence passes over the shoulder of the wearer and forms a second frontal part 38 which passes downwardly, is folded at 45D and extends at right angles, thence through a D ring 40 and back on itself, thence about the center bar of the buckle 30 and again back on itself at 39 where it terminates and is stitched as indicated generally at 42. Likewise the other frontal part 31 passes up over the shoulder of the wearer, thence through a loop formed between the parts 36 and 37, and down across the back becoming part 44 and thence about the right side of the body of the user to the buckle 30 which provides a size adjustment.

In like fashion to the embodiment described above, there is also provided a tether which as illustrated consists of a line or a section of webbing or the like 50 with a loop in the end thereof designated 52 which loop is passed through itself and around the D ring 40, the entire tether terminating in a suitable clasp or hook or other fastening arrangement generally designated 26'.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that this embodiment is a piece of strong and flexible harness webbing that is sewn at a portion to make a turn about a frontal fastening ring and this minimizes the risk of failure of the stitching under severe stress.

As an alternative to the embodiments illustrated, the tether can have a snap hook at either end, one of the hooks being used to secure the loops together. Preferably in this arrangement the loops are in the form of Drings (as in the second embodiment above described with reference to Figures 6 to 8).

The arrangement illustrated can be modified by providing the loops as snap hooks or the like (e.g. in Figure 6, replacing the Drings with snap hooks). The tether can then be wound around the loops to secure them together and provide a selected length of tether, without having to pass the tether through the loops. In this case, as indeed also in the previously described embodiments, the tether can take the form of a rope instead of a webbing strap. The tether will normally be secured to one loop before being wound around the loops (as in the embodiment of Figures 1 to 5), and may be wound around the laced portion between the loops (as in Figure 5).

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. A safety harness for limited mobility of a person wearing the same, comprising two strap portions each having a width greater than its thickness, a loop at one end of each strap portion, each strap portion extending from its said loop through a point of crossing with the other strap portion to a point adjacent the loop of the other strap portion, each strap portion being of a length to extend from its loop about the body of the user to the crossing point which is intended to lie against the back of the user and from there over one shoulder of the user to said point adjacent the loop of the other strap portion, and a tether including an attaching device on at least one end, the tether being adapted to secure the loops together and to be fastened to an object.

2. A safety harness as claimed in claim 1, wherein there are two individual strap portions secured together at their point of crossing and at said points adjacent the loops.

3. A safety harness as claimed in claim 1, wherein the two strap portions are constituted by a continuous loop.

4. A safety harness as claimed in claim 3, wherein the continuous strap includes an arrangement for adjusting the length thereof, and wherein one strap portion is captive, but movable, relative to the other at the point of crossing.

5. A safety harness as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the tether is connected to one loop and adapted to be passed through the other of said loops and thence through said one loop in a sufficient number of times to provide a selected length adapted to be fastened to an object.

6. A safety harness as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the tether has an attaching device at each end, and the device at one end is adapted to connect together said loops.

7. A safety harness as claimed in claim 6, wherein the loops are rings and the attaching device at said one end is a snap hook.

8. A safety harness as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the loops have the form of snap hooks or like partially open devices by which the tether can be introduced into each loop without passing it through the loop, the loops being secured together in operation of the harness by passing one end of the tether through the loops in turn a sufficient number of times to provide a selected length adapted to be fastened to an object.

9. A safety harness substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 5 or 6 to 8 of the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (9)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. As an alternative to the embodiments illustrated, the tether can have a snap hook at either end, one of the hooks being used to secure the loops together. Preferably in this arrangement the loops are in the form of Drings (as in the second embodiment above described with reference to Figures 6 to 8). The arrangement illustrated can be modified by providing the loops as snap hooks or the like (e.g. in Figure 6, replacing the Drings with snap hooks). The tether can then be wound around the loops to secure them together and provide a selected length of tether, without having to pass the tether through the loops. In this case, as indeed also in the previously described embodiments, the tether can take the form of a rope instead of a webbing strap. The tether will normally be secured to one loop before being wound around the loops (as in the embodiment of Figures 1 to 5), and may be wound around the laced portion between the loops (as in Figure 5). WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A safety harness for limited mobility of a person wearing the same, comprising two strap portions each having a width greater than its thickness, a loop at one end of each strap portion, each strap portion extending from its said loop through a point of crossing with the other strap portion to a point adjacent the loop of the other strap portion, each strap portion being of a length to extend from its loop about the body of the user to the crossing point which is intended to lie against the back of the user and from there over one shoulder of the user to said point adjacent the loop of the other strap portion, and a tether including an attaching device on at least one end, the tether being adapted to secure the loops together and to be fastened to an object.

2. A safety harness as claimed in claim 1, wherein there are two individual strap portions secured together at their point of crossing and at said points adjacent the loops.

3. A safety harness as claimed in claim 1, wherein the two strap portions are constituted by a continuous loop.

4. A safety harness as claimed in claim 3, wherein the continuous strap includes an arrangement for adjusting the length thereof, and wherein one strap portion is captive, but movable, relative to the other at the point of crossing.

5. A safety harness as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the tether is connected to one loop and adapted to be passed through the other of said loops and thence through said one loop in a sufficient number of times to provide a selected length adapted to be fastened to an object.

6. A safety harness as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the tether has an attaching device at each end, and the device at one end is adapted to connect together said loops.

7. A safety harness as claimed in claim 6, wherein the loops are rings and the attaching device at said one end is a snap hook.

8. A safety harness as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the loops have the form of snap hooks or like partially open devices by which the tether can be introduced into each loop without passing it through the loop, the loops being secured together in operation of the harness by passing one end of the tether through the loops in turn a sufficient number of times to provide a selected length adapted to be fastened to an object.

9. A safety harness substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 5 or 6 to 8 of the accompanying drawings.