Personnel Lowering Device

Found at the Patent Office by Matthew Graham. Now, next time you retrieve someone out of a tree, you can refer to the following schematic.

United States Patent [19]
Varner et al.

[11] Patent Number: 4,938,435
[45] Date of Patent: Jul. 3, 1990

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[54] PERSONNEL LOWERING DEVICE
[75] Inventors: Horace M. Varner; Ernest L. Stech,
both of Littleton, Colo.
[73] Assignee: Frost Engineering Development
Corporation, Englewood, Colo.
[21] Appl. No.: 292,483
[22] Filed: Dec. 30, 1998
[51] Int. Cl.5......B64D 17/78
[52] U.S. Cl........244/142; 188/184; 188/654; 182/231;
182/5; 244/138 R
[58] Field of Search...... 188/184, 65.4, 65.1, 188/188;
182/231-240, 5,6,7; 244/138 R, 142
[56] References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

656,507 8/1900 Brown .... 182/6
4,063,615 12/1977 Knepp .... 182/5
4,493,396 1/1985 Borgie .... 182/233
4,640,388 2/1987 Walborn .... 182/231
4,645,034 2/1987 Griffith ..... 182/5

Primary Examiner -- Galen Barefoot

[57] ABSTRACT
A personnel lowering or descent control device. The device includes a housing adapted to be secured to a person intending to descend from a higher to a lower elevation, and containing a line adapted to be secured at one end to a fixed point at said higher elevation. The line is wound on a reel rotatably mounted in said housing. A brake assembly, including a centrifugal brake controls the rate of rotation of said reel and thereby the rate of descent. A mechanical brake on said housing provides a manual control of the rate of rotation of the line supply reel. The descent line is trained on a plurality of capstans mounted within the housing for absorbing energy and providing a capstan ratio effective to reduce applied line tension to slow the descent of an object supported by the said descent device.
11 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets