US3415340A - Safety sling for workmen - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 10, 1968 J. H. KINKADE 3,415,340

SAFETY SLING FOR WCRKMEN Filed June 9, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. JERALD H. KlNiKADE ATTORNEYS Dec. 10, 1968 J. H. KINKADE 3,415,340

SAFETY SLING FOR WORKMEN Filed June 9, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JERALD H. KINKADE ATTOR N EYS United States Patent 3,415,340 SAFETY SLING FOR WORKMEN Jerald H. Kinkade, Cody, Wyo., assignor to Manufacturing Patents Associates, a partnership Filed June 9, 1967, Ser. No. 645,050 6 Claims. (Cl. 182-7) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rope-suspended sling, for workmen required to work on the outside of buildings or in other high places, gives secure support yet may be readily shifted along the rope by the occupant of the sling to permit a change in work position, without danger of a fall.

Background of the invention Field.-The invention relates to slings for providing safe support for workmen working at heights, where a fall could result in serious injury.

Prior art.Safety slings of various types adapted to serve various purposes are known. The following patents are illustrative: Connolly, US. Patent No. 288,411; Stuart, US. Patent No. 1,300,040; Hoyt, US. Patent No. 2,254,179.

Summary of the invention The purpose of the invention is to provide a safety sling that will both comfortably support and adequately protect a workman from falling should he slip while working at heights and yet will afford freedom of movement from place to place in a work area with a minimum of inconvenience and work stoppage.

The invention permits precise control of the position of a sling relative to a safety rope, is distinguished by its simplicity-nothing can get out of order, allows the workman the use of both hands for working and for handling the safety rope, employs the weight of the workman to establish safety grip on the rope, and is easily operated by merely shifting body weight or by convenient manual adjustment.

In the various forms of the invention, there is a body harness that inculdes a seat portion adapted to engage the buttocks of the user. This harness is attached to a rigid mounting structure, which crosses the front of the users body and carries a forwardly projecting pinch-lock mechanism adapted to receive a safety rope and to lock the sling at selected points along the length of such rope.

Description of the drawings In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and illustrating presently preferred forms of the safety sling:

FIG. 1 is a view of a sling provided with a suspender type of harness and being worn ready for attachment to a safety rope, the body of the wearer being twisted somewhat so as to show the upper part in perspective and the lower part in elevation;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a similar sling provided with a belt type of harness;

FIG. 3 is a broken top plan view of the rigid mounting structure and the pinch-lock mechanism carried thereby, together with a portion of a safety rope which is locked by the pinch-lock mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a view like FIG. 3 but showing the rope released, that is, capable of linear movement because of a manipulation of the pinch-lock mechanism;

FIG. 5 is a detail sectional view on line 55 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a detail sectional view on line 6-6 of FIG.-4.

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Description of the preferred embodiments In FIG. 1 the sling is shown with a suspender type of body harness. In FIG. 2 the same sling is shown with a belt type of body harness. In both, the seat portion includes an upper webbing or strap 10 of some flexible material and a lower webbing or strap 11 of similar material. These are secured at their opposite ends to two relatively large metal rings 12 and 13, which form part of a rigid mounting structure extending across the front and at the sides of the seat. While the straps 10 and 11 are shown looped around the rings 12 and 13 and permanently secured by stitching, obviously the straps could be secured to the rings in some other way, as by buckling to permit length adjustment to fit the users body and to enable removal and replacement. It should be noted that the straps 10 and 11 are independently slidable on the rings 12 and 13 to provide a sling-type seat that will not ride up the back of the occupant of the seat.

A pair of suspender straps 14 and 15, which cross at the rear and are sewn together or otherwise united in usual manner, are each secured at one end to the upper seat strap 10, as by stitching. Attached to opposite ends of these suspender straps are respective straps 17 and buckle extensions 17a thereof, which make length-adjustable and freely slidable conections with the rings 12 and 13, respectively, so as to permit adjustments to accommodate persons of different heights.

Rings 12 and 13 are considerably narrowed at their forward ends, and plates 18 and 19 are welded or otherwise rigidly secured thereacross to receive and preferably journal a horizontal bar 20 for oscillation on its longitudinal axis. This bar passes across the front of the users body and, together with the rings 12 and 13, provides a rigid structure for mounting a pinch-lock mechanism 21 that serves to receive a safety rope R.

As shown, pinch-lock mechanism 21 includes a U- frame 22, which is articulatively attached to the middle of bar 20 and projects forwardly therefrom, With its outer end closed by a transverse bar member 22a. If bar 20 is mounted in plates 18 and 19 to oscillate on its longitudinal axis, as illustrated, U-frame 22 is advantageously pivotally attached to such bar, as by means of pivot pin 22b. If bar 20 is fixed with respect to such plates, the mounting of U-frame 22 thereon should be by means of a universal joint permitting up and down as well as side to side movement.

U-frame 22 has both its arms slotted, as indicated at 23, and a spool 24 is slidably mounted in the slots so as to be movable toward and from bar member 22a. Discs 25 are afiixed to the ends of the spool at the outside of the U-frame. Thus, the spool is permanently held on the U-frame, but is freely rotatable and slidable therein.

A bail-type of latch 26 normally hangs freely from spool 24, as shown in FIG. 5.

Safety rope R is Wrapped around bar member 22a at the outer end of the U-frame and is partly wrapped around the spool 24. In rope-locking position, see FIGS. 3 and 5, spool 24 is thrust tightly against that part of the rope which is passed around bar member 22a of the U- frame. This occurs when the occupant of the sling exerts his weight against the sling seat. FIGS. 4 and 6 show the rope. released, to permit the user to shift his position. Release is effected when the workman in the sling stands with his weight off the sling seat. He can then grasp bail latch 26 and pull it backwardly and upwardly to engage keeper notch 27 at the back of the U-frame to hold the spool in rope-releasing position. This allows use of both hands on the safety rope to increase or decrease its effective length as found necessary for accommodating movement of the workman from place to place within the work area.

.As shown in FIG. 2, the suspender straps of the body harness may be replaced by a belt 28 having a buckle 29 and passed through a loop 30, which projects upwardly from upper seat strap 10, and through loops 31 buckled to the upper runs 12a and 13a of the rings 12 and 13, respectively.

The described device provides complete security, yet permits quick adjustment of the position of the sling along the length of the safety rope to allow the user to shift his position as required by the demands of his work.

Whereas this invention is here described and illustrated with respect to certain forms thereof, it is to be understood that many variations a-re possible without departing from the subject matter particularly pointed out in the following claims, which subject matter I regard as my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A workers sling for use with a safety rope that is secured to a fixed support, comprising, in combination, a

body harness including a sling-type of seat; a rigid structure secured to the harness and disposed at the sides of and in front of the seat; and a pinch-lock mechanism articulatively secured to the front of said structure and adapted to receive and grip the safety rope, said mechanism being operable under the control of an occupant of the seat to temporarily relax the grip on the rope and permit movement of the sling therealong for accommodating changes in work position.

2. A workers sling in accordance with claim 1, wherein the pinch-lock mechanism includes a frame having an outer end, and a spool slidable in the frame toward and from said outer end thereof, whereby the safety rope may be wrapped around said outer end and partly around the spool.

3. A workers sling in accordance with claim 2, wherein the spool has attached thereto a bail-type of latch, which normally hangs from the spool so as to be grasped and swung, backwardly and upwardly by the user; and wherein there is provided a keeper for said latch adjacent the opposite end of the frame to lock the spool in ropereleasing position.

4. A workers sling in accordance with claim 1, wherein the rigid structure comprises side rings to which the seat is attached, and a bar extending horizontally across the front of the seat.

5. A workers sling in accordance with claim 4, wherein the seat is provided by a pair of flexible web straps separately and slidably attached at their opposite ends to the side rings, respectively, of the rigid structure.

6. A workers sling in accordance with claim 4, wherein the bar is journaled at the front of the rings so as to oscillate on its longitudinal axis relative to such rings.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 138,051 4/1873 Shaw 182-7 296,769 4/1884 Miller et al. 1827 2,252,998 8/1941 Watchel 182-6 2,432,741 12/1947 Frankel 1826 2,561,832 7/1951 Wilson 182-7 2,691,478 10/1954 Frankel 182--6 2,879,830 3/1959 Johnson 182---9 REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner.

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