WO2010060526A1

WO2010060526A1 - Carabiner having a release lock

Info

Publication number: WO2010060526A1
Application number: PCT/EP2009/007862
Authority: WO
Inventors: Matthias Holzinger; Sem Hediger
Original assignee: Mammut Sports Group Ag
Priority date: 2008-11-03
Filing date: 2009-11-03
Publication date: 2010-06-03
Also published as: WO2010060526A8; EP2342469A1; CH699865A2; CH699865B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a safety carabiner (1) having a nearly C-shaped carabiner body (2), having a first leg end (5), a second leg end (8), and a carabiner opening (16) extending between the two leg ends, and an interior enclosed by the carabiner body having a wheel (7), the rotor, comprising a locking mechanism and being rotatably supported for securely retaining a connecting means placed or hung in the carabiner, particularly a safety rope or sling, said rotor preventing release of the connecting means from the carabiner.

Description

CARABINER WITH HOLD-UP PROTECTION

TECHNICAL AREA

The present invention relates to a carabiner which is suitable both for use in climbing gyms and climbing gardens, as well as for reliably securing workers in exposed positions.

STATE OF THE ART

Carabiners are known in a variety of different embodiments. They generally have an at least approximately C-shaped body and an opening bounded by the ends of the carabiner legs for hooking in a connecting means such as a climbing rope or a sling. Typically, this carabiner opening is closed by a spring-loaded locking mechanism consisting of a closure and optionally a closure safety device to prevent inadvertent unhooking of the connection means from the carabiner.

EP 0 376 860 discloses a carabiner with safety closure. This consists of a sliding ring and a simple optical indicator. This indicator is visible when the safety lock is open and thus not active.

EP 1 703 148 likewise discloses a carabiner with safety closure. In this case, a mechanical button, which is incorporated into the safety ring, must be operated to open the carabiner or to the necessary displacement of the safety ring.

DE 2000 12 80 discloses a carabiner which is particularly suitable for express loops and has a counter to the force of a spring pivotable, mounted in the snap hook snappers. GB 2400628 discloses various carabiners with wire closures. All carabiners are constructed so that no hooks or notches are provided at the free end of the approximately C-shaped body, which could interfere with the attachment or removal of ropes.

In all these inventions, it is readily possible and also desirable that you can remove the hooked into the carabiner rope with one hand and with only a short handle from the carabiner. Since such karabiners are also used in climbing gyms as the highest security element happen due to the possibility of one-handed opening accidents again and again, sometimes with fatal consequences. These accidents are mainly caused by beginners who climb a climbing route in so-called top-rope climbing with a safety rope usually suspended only in the uppermost safety element and do not recognize the uppermost safety element as a main safety element. Arrived within reach of the top security element then, for example, the safety rope accidentally posted out of this and thus the security chain interrupted.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention, therefore, a safety carabiner is described in which although a rope unusually light inserted but can be removed again only with increased effort. In particular, the construction of the carabiner is such that unhooking the rope with one hand would require almost acrobatic skill. An accidental unhooking of the rope from the last securing point is thereby largely avoided.

This object is achieved by a carabiner according to claim 1. Further embodiments of the carabiner are described in the dependent claims. In a first embodiment, the invention relates to a carabiner for making a detachable connection with ropes, slings and similar attachment means, the carabiner having an at least approximately C-shaped carabiner body whose curved legs define at their ends an opening through which a connecting means , eg a rope or a sling, can be hooked into the carabiner. This opening is - unlike in the prior art known carbines - not closed by a spring-loaded securing bracket. Instead, the inventive carabiner has a securing element in the form of a rotatably mounted, at least two-leaf, preferably three- or four-bladed impeller, the "rotor", with locking mechanism, which is arranged within the limited by the carabiner body interior. This rotor rotates in the plane defined by the carabiner body, the "carabiner plane", with its axis of rotation aligned perpendicular to the carabiner plane.

The locking mechanism comprises an elongate locking clip arranged between the carabiner side and the rotor, which in one embodiment is curved approximately following the shape of the rotor and has a spring tension. The arresting bar is fixedly connected at one end to the carabiner body, while the other free end protrudes from the carabiner body and cooperates with the rotor to engage notches provided on each wing of the rotor thereby rotating the rotor in one of the two directions of rotation , hereinafter referred to as reverse direction, blocked. The wings of the rotor are constructed and / or aligned on its axis of rotation, that in the locked position of the rotor access to the carabiner opening for a hinged rope is completely blocked, so that hooked into the carabiner rope between two adjacent rotor blades and the corresponding section of the carabiner body and sealed off from the carabiner opening. It can not be moved in the reverse direction and therefore can not be unmounted. Only a release of the Arretierungsbügels against its own spring pressure allows rotation of the rotor in the reverse direction and thus a release of the carabiner opening and the suspended rope. Since the release of the locking lever and the simultaneous detachment of the cable with backward rotation of the rotor with only one hand would require a relatively high level of skill, it is to be expected that the operation of the carabiner according to the invention for the purpose of unhooking a safety rope or a sling usually two-handed and thus made more conscious than one-handed operation.

According to one embodiment of the invention, cover plates are also attached to both sides of the carabiner body, which cover a part of the carabiner interior, the Arretierungsbügels and the rotor and at the same time serve by means of corresponding recesses as axle bearings for the rotation axis of the rotor. However, those skilled in the art will be able to discover other possibilities of rotor suspension within the carabiner body without any effort and without inventive step, without deviating from the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

1 shows a side view of a carabiner according to the invention in a vertical orientation and a section through a rope to be hooked.

Fig.2 shows the carabiner from Fig. 1 without front cover plate, with rotor and locking bracket in locking position.

Fig. 3 shows the carabiner from Fig. 2 with the rope completely attached and the rotor turned further.

Fig.4 shows the carabiner from Fig. 3 after removal of the previously suspended

Rope, with the unlocked rotor in open position. Fig.5 shows an oblique view of a carabiner invention with cover plates, rotor and Arretierungsbügel.

Fig. 6 shows the carabiner from Fig.5 without front cover plate in angled position. sees, with the rotor in opening position for attaching a rope.

As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, the carabiner 1 according to the invention comprises an approximately C-shaped carabiner body 2 with a first leg end 5, a second leg end 8, a carabiner opening 16 extending between the two leg ends, and a trifoliate one Rotor 7 with locking bracket 13. Furthermore, the carabiner comprises a first cover plate 3 and one of the first opposite, aligned parallel to the first, second cover plate 12 which are fastened with fastening bolts 1 1 on the carabiner body 2, and wherein at least one of the cover plates an opening. 4 has, through which a laterally extending portion 14 of the Arretierbügels 13 passes. This laterally extending portion 14 of the locking clip 13 provides the user, e.g. In the illustrated embodiment, with the side cover plates 3 and 12, this operating element 14 is the only part of the arresting bar 13 that is accessible to the user.

The cover plates 3, 12 are preferably fastened to the carabiner body in such a way that together with the latter they define an opening 17 which serves for the suspension or anchoring of the carabiner itself. The cover plates 3, 12 may have a rounded, trough-shaped recess in this area in order to facilitate the reception of fasteners with a round cross-section and to fix such fastening means optionally in the well location stable.

The three-bladed rotor 7 shown in the figures is rotatably mounted in the cover plates 3, 1 2 via its axis of rotation 10 and has on the outer circumference of each blade an optionally stepped or multicelled notch 18 which, when the rotor rotates, is in the reverse direction the locking bracket cooperates and is prevented by this on a further rotation in the reverse direction. The spring-loaded Hende, curved in this example, locking bracket is connected at one end 19 fixed to the carabiner inside, while the other, free end is permanently pressed by its spring tension on the outer circumference of the rotor and therefore always in contact with at least one rotor blade in contact. This results in a ratcheting effect upon rotation of the rotor, ie when rotating in the forward direction, the rotor vanes slide along the resting part of the arresting bar (Fig. 6), while turning in the reverse direction only until the first notch, then the blockage occurs (Fig. , As a result, a once inserted safety rope 6 can not be removed. This situation is clearly visible in Fig. 3. The safety rope 6 is thereby guided through the opening 16 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) and hooked into the carabiner, wherein the rotor is further rotated in the forward direction, clockwise in FIG. As a result, the suspended rope in the space 9 between two rotor blades and the corresponding part of the carabiner body is included (Figure 3) and sealed off from the carabiner opening.

When the locking bracket 13 is made in a linear shape, it is pressed by a mounted between it and the carabiner body spring, such as a coil spring against the rotor.

In order to unhook the safety rope 6 again from the carabiner, the rotor 7 must be moved in the backward direction, ie in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 3, about its axis of rotation 10. However, this is only possible if the contact of the locking clip 13 with the rotor is released and thus the rotor is released for rotation in the reverse direction. This is done by pushing away the Arretierbügels using the protruding through the opening 4 of the cover plate 3, 12 control element 14th

To protect against damage to the hook-mounted connection means in the carabiner, for example a safety rope or a cable loop, through the edges of the cover plates 3, 12 in the area of contact with the connecting means, these edges can be rounded or at least in the contact area Rubber or plastic coatings to be coated. As an alternative to this, the cover plates in the contact region can also be configured as protective plates, for example by means of a round or profiled external covering 15, as shown in FIG.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

Claims

1 . Carabiner (1) having an approximately C-shaped carabiner body (2), with a first leg end (5), a second leg end (8) and between the two leg ends extending carabiner opening (1 6) and an enclosed by the carabiner body interior, characterized characterized in that it has for safe retention of a lanyard engaged or hinged in the carabiner, in particular a safety rope or a cable loop, via a rotatably mounted impeller (7), the rotor, with locking mechanism, which in the locking position, a detachment of the connecting means the carabiner stops.

2. Carbine according to claim 1, characterized in that the rotor (7) is arranged in the carabiner interior such that its axis of rotation (10) is aligned perpendicular to the carabiner body spanned by the carabiner body.

3. Carbine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the locking mechanism comprises a locking clip (13) which is firmly anchored at one end to the inside of the carabiner body and with its other, free end permanently against the rotor (7) presses and rests on this, each wing of the rotor having on its outer periphery a notch, in which the locking bracket can engage and block the rotor in one direction of rotation.

4. Carbine according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the rotor has at least two wings, preferably three or four wings and these are constructed and / or aligned on the axis of rotation tet that in the locking position of the rotor in the Carabiner hinged connecting means completely between two adjacent rotor blades and a corresponding portion of the carabiner body enclosed and is isolated from the carabiner opening (1 6).

5. Carabiner according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the locking clip (13) has a on the rotor (7) tuned, curved shape with immanent spring tension and permanently presses against the rotor due to this spring tension.

6. Carbine according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that it comprises on both sides of the carabiner body cover plates (3, 1 2) up, which cover part of the carabiner interior, the rotor and the Arretierbügels and in which the axis of rotation ( 10) of the rotor is rotatably mounted.

7. A carbine according to claim 6, characterized in that at least one of the cover plates (3, 12) has an opening (4) through which a

Operating element provided, laterally extending part (14) of the Arretierbügels (13) protrudes.

8. Carabiner according to one of claims 6 or 7, characterized marked, that the cover plates in the region of the connection provided with the contact rounded, padded or coated edges or a round or profiled outer flange with fender function, to avoid excessive wear or damage to the Having connecting means.

9. A carbine according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the cover plates (3, 12) are fixed to the carabiner so that they define an opening together with a highly curved portion of the carabiner body, through which the carabiner itself on a hook or another fastening means can be suspended or fixed in place.