DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates, in a general aspect thereof, to devices intended for supporting persons and things along load-bearing cables or ropes, such as those used for Tyrolean crossings, cableways and the like.

As is known, the so-called adventure parks are becoming increasingly widespread in the field of outdoor sporting or recreation activities, i.e. parks equipped with cables, ropes, suspended crossings, etc., where people can follow paths of variable difficulty, while safety is ensured through the use of equipment essentially derived from mountaineering and sports climbing.

For this purpose, people are provided with slings, helmets, snaplinks, cords, extensions or longes , and whatever they need to be able to move along paths that may be several metres high above the ground, while constantly remaining fastened to anchoring structures mostly consisting of metal ropes.

One type of crossing that is often used in these paths is the so-called“Tyrolean” crossing, where the persons remain suspended in the void, or anyway at several metres above the ground, from a tight rope by means of a pulley.

The rope is preferably slightly inclined, so that the suspended persons can advance along it without effort by gravity; for this reason, special double or multiple pulleys are generally used, which can safely slide on the ropes without oscillating, and to which the persons are connected by means of snaplinks and/or cords secured to the sling.

The present invention specifically relates to such particular pulleys, which, it must be pointed out, are also used for applications other than adventure parks.

For example, cableways or systems for transportation of people or things on building sites, or in places otherwise unreachable, or for mountain rescue services, or wherever people or things need to be suspended from cables or ropes, e.g. working on facades of buildings (for repairs, glass cleaning, etc.).

The multiple pulleys known in the art essentially consist of a bracket having an upside- down U-shaped section, which internally houses two idle rollers or sheaves, the profile or groove of which is so shaped as to match the rope on which the pulley must slide. It is worth pointing out that in the following description and in the appended claims the terms rollers or sheaves will be used without distinction to designate the same pulley elements intended to roll on the rope.

The pulley is either provided with an appendix or associated with a connection element, which, by working essentially like a snaplink with a safety latch elastically active under the action of a spring, allows the rope to be inserted in the pulley while however preventing it from coming off in the event of a fall or an accidental wrong manoeuvre.

Some pulley models having these characteristics are available from the present Applicant under the names“Zip evo” and“Pamir fast”, as shown on the Internet site (www.kong.it ^' ) of the same, as well as from other manufacturers, and are described in European patent application published as EP 1 386 814 (by Zedel).

From a general viewpoint, these pulley models are manufactured and successfully marketed by the Applicant; with a view to constantly improving its products, the latter has now decided to enhance their performance, especially as far as safety is concerned. It is in fact understandable that, with the above-mentioned adventure parks becoming increasingly widespread, also the number of people going to such places is growing; not all such people are skilled or familiar with equipment like pulleys, so that a need has arisen for products that are extremely safe and easy to use, to advantage of all users.

The technical problem at the basis of the present invention is therefore to create a pulley of the above-mentioned type, i.e. a multiple pulley having at least two idle rollers or sheaves, the structural and functional features of which are such as to ensure a higher level of safety even when wrong moves are made by unskilled users, or anyway to facilitate the handling of the pulley itself.

The idea that solves this problem is to create a pulley with intrinsic safety, i.e. a pulley that, once applied to the rope, cannot be removed by the user suspended therefrom, even in the event of inadvertently erroneous manoeuvres.

In order to implement such a solution, the basic principle of the invention is to bring about the engagement and disengagement between pulley and rope in a condition that is different from the one normally taken for sliding the pulley.

To this end, the latter comprises, among other things, a cut-out or passage for inserting and extracting the rope, oriented substantially transversal to the latter, thus in any case preventing the pulley from decoupling from the rope when a person is suspended therefrom.

In the above-described general frame, another technical problem that the invention aims at solving is to create a more ergonomic pulley that is easier to handle and therefore more suitable for unskilled users.

The features of the invention will be more specifically set out in the claims appended to this description.

Such features will become more apparent in the light the following description of a non-exclusive preferred embodiment of the invention, as shown by way of non limiting example in the annexed drawings, wherein:

- Fig. l is a perspective view of a pulley according to the invention;

- Figs. 2 and 3 are, respectively, a front view and a side view of the pulley of Fig. 1;

- Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view of the pulley along line IV-IV of Fig. 3;

- Figs. 5, 6 and 7, 8 show, respectively, operating conditions of the above pulley during the phases of engagement with a rope;

- Fig. 9 shows a detail of the above pulley in an operating condition.

With reference to the above-listed figures, numeral 1 designates as a whole a pulley in accordance with the invention, which comprises an upper part or portion 2 intended to engage with a cable or rope T, and a lower part or portion 3 intended to be seized by a user or connected to a snaplink or a similar part of a user’s equipment.

Between the upper part 2 and the lower part there is substantially no solution of continuity, and this distinction between the two parts is only useful for illustrative purposes.

From a more structural viewpoint, it can however be said that, in the embodiment shown in the drawings, the pulley 1 preferably comprises a pair of opposite plates or cheekpieces 5 and 6, made of metal or any other material offering appropriate characteristics of mechanical strength for use as a pulley.

Preferably, the material of the plates 5, 6 comprises, or is based on, aluminium or alloys thereof, although other metal materials may also be used for the plates 5 and 6, such as stainless steel, bronze, copper, as well as various alloys of these and other elements (nickel, magnesium, etc.). It must also be pointed out that the plates 5, 6 may be manufactured as one piece, as in the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings, or by assembling together pieces or inserts by welding or other mechanical fastening means (screws, bolts, etc.).

The two plates 5 and 6 are solidly connected to each other by a series of tie rods 7, in the form of bolts, rivets or the like, keeping them opposite to each other at a predefined distance, to form the external structure of the pulley 1.

In the upper part of the pulley two rollers or sheaves 10, 11 are arranged and supported in line, i.e. with parallel axes of rotation defined by respective pins 12, 13 extending between the plates 5 and 6; the rollers 10, 11 have respective peripheral grooves with the usual concave profile, for engaging with the cable or rope T.

For this purpose, the rollers (sheaves) are aligned, i.e. have the same median plane passing through the longitudinal axis X of the pulley.

The rollers or sheaves 10, 11 are idle, preferably in both directions, i.e. they can turn freely in both directions (clockwise and counterclockwise); it is however possible to employ rollers 10, 11 that are idle in one direction only, depending on the type of bearings they are provided with, or anyway on the chosen pulley design.

In Figures 2, 5, 6 and 8, the rollers or sheaves 10, 11 are drawn with a dashed line, since they are respectively housed within bent appendices 15, 16 of the plates 5, 6; in fact, in accordance with the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings, the upper part of the plates 5, 6 is bent into a“U” shape, so as to delimit a corresponding seat for the rollers.

The appendices 15, 16 are narrower than the rest of the respective plates 5, 6, and are bent in such a way as to remain in the upper part 2 of the pulley 1.

Furthermore, the profile of the appendices 15, 16 is tapered towards their free ends 15b, l6b, so that the respective inner edges l 5a, l6a, i.e. the edges near the longitudinal axis X-X of the pulley, are inclined, thus defining, between the two appendices 15, 16, a V-shaped window or cut-out 20, clearly visible in the front view of the pulley 1.

The free ends 15b, l6b of the appendices 15, 16 are also slightly curved inwards, for reasons that will become apparent later on.

The lower part 3 of the pulley is intended essentially for being grasped, and for this purpose it comprises a handle 30 circumscribing an aperture 31; the handle 30 preferably comprises a core 32 of plastic material, such as Teflon®, PVC, polyethylene or the like, interposed between the plates 5, 6 of the pulley structure, to which it is fastened by means or bolts or rivets 7, thus constituting, together with them, an ergonomic, strong and light handle.

It is worth adding that the configuration of the handle 30 with the aperture 31 also allows for easy application of snaplinks, cords or anything else may be required for securing the pulley to the rest of a user’s equipment.

Between the upper part 2 and the lower part 3 of the pulley there is a slider or movable body 40, which is elastically supported by a pair of springs 41, 42 guided by corresponding pins 43, 44 fixed to the core 32 of the lower part 3 of the pulley.

The body 40 is substantially configured as a slider that can alternately move back and forth along the longitudinal axis X of the pulley, with a travel of a few millimetres, as a result of the elastic action exerted by the springs 41, 42.

In particular, the body 40 can move between a lowered first operating position, in which the springs 41, 42 are compressed and the body 40 is substantially aligned with the core 32 of the handle 30, and a second operating position, in which the movable body 40 is raised by the elastic force of the springs 41, 42, and the end of the travel of the body 40, determined by the sliders of the springs, coincides with the bent ends 15b, l6b of the appendices 15, 16.

Of course, the movable body 40 can also move in the opposite direction, i.e. from the raised position to the lowered position. It also has a longitudinal length or extension that, preferably, is substantially equal to the centre-to-centre distance between the two rollers 10, 11 : this is useful to further prevent or limit the risk that the rope F might come out of engagement with the rollers 10, 11.

De facto , the movable body 40 translates elastically between the two operating positions according to the operating conditions of the pulley 1, which will be described below with reference to Figures 5-8.

In order to engage it with the rope T, the pulley 1 is first oriented transversally thereto, i.e. with both plates 5 and 6 perpendicular to the rope, so as to insert the latter into the cut-out 20, as indicated by the dashed line in Fig. 5.

In this condition, the pulley 1, being pushed upwards as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5, reaches the bottom of the cut-out 20 and comes in contact with the movable body 40, which is in the raised operating condition (Fig. 5).

Continuing to raise the pulley, the elastic force of the springs 41, 42 is overcome, so that the movable body 40 goes down into the operating condition (Fig. 6). The particular shape of the cut-out, given by the inclined and opposing profile of the appendices in the inner part, automatically triggers the rotation of the pulley as the rope is inserted, preventing it from attempting to rotate erroneously.

The resulting lowering of the movable body 40 allows the rope T to pass between the free ends 15b, l6b of the appendices 15, 16.

For this purpose, the pulley 1 is rotated about its longitudinal axis X, so as to orient it substantially coplanar with the rope T, i.e. with the rollers or sheaves 10, 11 aligned therewith and ready to engage the rope T (Fig. 7).

At this point, the pulley is released and the movable body 40 returns into the raised condition under the action of the springs 41, 42.

In this condition, the rope T is advantageously at a level above the bent ends 15b, l6b of the appendices 15, 16, so that the rope T is constrained to the pulley 1 without any possibility that it might come off in the event of unintentional wrong manoeuvres.

In fact, in order to disengage the rope T from the pulley 1 it is necessary to carry out the above procedure in reverse order, but this is not possible when a person’s weight is being applied to the pulley.

In fact, as indicated by the downward arrow in Fig. 8, the weight of a person suspended from the pulley 1 will cause the rollers or sheaves 10, 11 to rest on the rope and be able to roll thereon.

In particular, the body or slider 40, which has a tilting behaviour, prevents the rope T from coming off the rollers 10 and 11 when the pulley 1 is inclined relative to the rope; let us consider, for example, the case of a person swinging back and forth while being suspended from the pulley, which behaviour might otherwise cause the rollers (or sheaves) 10, 11 to“jump” off the rope T, i.e. the latter to come off the grooves lOa, l la of the rollers.

On this matter, reference can be made to Figure 9, in which it is possible to verify that the movable body 40 can tilt when the pulley 1 is inclined relative to the rope T and one of the rollers 10, 11 is not in contact therewith.

For clarity, such figure has been simplified compared to the preceding ones, in that it does not show all the elements of the pulley (e.g. the springs 41, 42).

As can be seen, the elastic support of the body 40 allows the latter to adapt itself to the operating condition while always keeping at least one of the rollers 10, 11 in engagement with the rope T, preventing the latter from coming off. Therefore, in this operating condition it is not possible to rotate the pulley 1 to orient it transversally to the rope T, since the latter, in addition to being engaged with the rollers (sheaves) 10, 11, is also guided laterally by the appendices 15, 16 of the plates 5, 6, which prevent it from coming off sideways.

The pulley 1 is thus intrinsically safe, even should the suspended person accidentally make wrong moves or loose control (e.g. fainting or the like).

As can be understood, the pulley 1 solves the technical problem at the basis of the invention of attaining higher safety in case of wrong manoeuvres by unskilled users, or anyway facilitating the handling of the pulley itself.

In brief, it can be stated that this result is achieved through a substantially bayonet- type engagement between the rope T and the pulley 1, which exploits a cut-out 20 between the plates 5, 6 and/or the appendices of the latter for inserting the cable/rope T by means of a simple movement of the hand.

The body 40, elastically operated by the springs 41, 42, prevents the rope from accidentally coming off the pulley.

In this regard, it must also be added to the above explanation that the handle 30 provides a solid means for gripping the pulley 1, arranged under the rollers 10, 11 at a sufficient distance therefrom to prevent the hand from being mistakenly positioned along the rope T and/or on the rollers, which might result in the risk of injury to the user’s fingers.

In other words, the intrinsic safety of the pulley of the invention extends to accident prevention during the manoeuvres for engaging and releasing the rope T.

Finally, the handle 30 makes it possible to grasp and handle the pulley 1 with one hand, resulting in evident advantages in terms of manoeuvrability. The handle also ensures that the user will remain aligned with the direction of descent, offering a comfortable and intuitive gripping point for his/her hands and avoiding any unintentional, uncontrolled rotation.

Furthermore, the application of snaplinks, cords or other elements of the person’s equipment is facilitated by the handle 30 and its central aperture 31.

Finally, it is worth reminding that the above explanation referring to the pulley 1 and the use thereof by people in adventure parks is also valid for other applications as well, such as cableways and similar systems of transportation of materials or things. In such contexts, the pulley 1 can be used for suspending the load to a load-bearing rope, with which a pulling rope is then associated for moving the load by means of the pulley 1.

All of these features and variants will still fall within the scope of the following claims.