Device for securing persons, especially in high ropes courses

Abstract

Device for securing persons, especially in high ropes courses, with two V-shaped carabiner arms (3a, 3b) at the ends of which carabiners (5a, 5b) are provided for hooking into a fixed safety rope. at whose connection point (7) a connecting means for connecting to a safety harness of the person is provided, characterized by that a spacer (20) is provided between the two carabiner arms (3a, 3b), which, in this application, runs approximately at head height of the person being secured.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a device for securing persons, particularly in high ropes courses.

[0002] Various devices are known for securing people in high ropes courses. These devices typically feature two carabiners attached to the ends of two V-shaped carabiner arms. These two carabiners are used to clip onto a fixed safety rope of the high ropes course.

[0003] The fixed safety cables are generally steel cables that run at considerable heights of up to 20 meters and, in outdoor settings, connect, for example, tree trunk or steel pillars. Many high ropes courses are integrated into the natural tree canopy and offer a challenging recreational activity for both teenagers and adults. Devices for securing persons are known from US 2010 / 0 181 142 A1 and DE10 2010 005 910 A1.

[0004] From EP1832315A1, a generic device is known in which, instead of two carabiners for fixing to the safety rope, two attachment elements with pulleys are provided which communicate with each other via a Bowden cable, so that only one attachment element can be released at a time. This prevents, especially inexperienced climbers, from becoming unsecured by unclipping both carabiners at points where the safety rope is not continuous.

[0005] From EP2397191A1 a further device of the same type for a high ropes course with a locking device for two carabiners is known.

[0006] A problem with such devices is that, when used on sections of a high ropes course designed as zip lines, the person being secured, especially children or teenagers, cannot sufficiently influence the device's orientation relative to the rope's direction. It cannot be ruled out that the person will arrive at the landing platform sideways or even backwards at the end of the zip line. This can lead to feelings of insecurity or even fear for the individual. The inability to control the orientation is often perceived as unpleasant or disruptive.

[0007] The object of the invention is therefore to create a device for securing persons in high ropes courses that allows the person being secured to easily control the orientation of the person relative to the direction of the rope.

[0008] This problem is solved by the features specified in claim 1.

[0009] Advantageous further developments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims. The essential idea of ​​the invention is to provide a spacer between the two V-shaped carabiner arms of the device for securing persons, which, when in use, runs approximately at the person's head height.

[0010] For weight reasons, the spacer is designed as a lightweight metal profile.

[0011] The spacer according to the invention should also be suitable for retrofitting devices already in use for securing persons, particularly in high ropes courses.

[0012] Therefore, clamping elements are provided that can be clamped to the band-shaped sections of the carabiner arms.

[0013] The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawing.

[0014] They show: Fig. 1. Perspective: Top view of a device according to the invention Fig. 2 Exploded view of a spacer Fig. 3 View of a person secured with the device according to the invention

[0015] In Fig. Figure 1 shows a top view of a device 1 according to the invention. Carabiners 5a and 5b are provided at the ends of two V-shaped carabiner arms 3a and 3b, respectively.

[0016] At the connection point 7, where the two carabiner arms 3a and 3b converge, a connecting element 9 is provided to which the person's safety harness is attached. The two carabiner arms 3a and 3b are approximately 80 cm long. A spacer 20 is arranged at a distance of approximately 40 cm from point 7, which is determined by Fig. 2 will be explained in more detail.

[0017] The spacer 20 consists of a tubular profile 22 at whose open ends clamping elements 24a, 24b can be inserted. The clamping elements 24a, 24b each consist of an upper and a lower part 26, 27, which have a guide 28 for a band-shaped section of the carabiner arms. The upper and lower parts can be pressed together by means of a screw 30. This firmly fixes the spacer 20 to the two carabiner arms 3a, 3b.

[0018] As shown by the Fig.As can be seen in Figure 3, the person can grasp the spacer 20 with one hand and thus easily control the direction of movement while sliding on a safety rope. Children, in particular, automatically seek a handhold when zip-lining in high ropes courses. The spacer 20 according to the invention provides this hold. At the same time, the user intuitively realizes, once they have grasped the spacer 20, that they have a control mechanism with which they can adjust their orientation relative to the rope direction. The ability to hold onto the spacer 20 and thus control the direction of movement gives the user a greater degree of safety. For example, when zip-lining, the user can precisely control their orientation shortly before reaching the landing platform and concentrate on the braking process. This prevents an unfavorable landing on the platform, which could potentially lead to injuries.The spacer 20 also prevents the two carabiner arms 3a, 3b from coming too close to each other and thus coming into direct contact with the user, especially his head.

[0019] Due to the simple design of the spacer 20, it can also be easily retrofitted to conventional connecting devices for personal safety, especially in high ropes courses.

Claims

[1] Device for securing persons, especially in high ropes courses, with two V-shaped carabiner arms (3a, 3b) at the ends of which carabiners (5a, 5b) are provided for hooking into a fixed safety rope at whose connection point (7) a connecting means for connecting to a safety harness of the person is provided, characterized by , that a spacer (20) is provided between the two carabiner arms (3a, 3b), which, in this application, runs approximately at head height of the person being secured. [2] Device for securing persons according to claim 1, characterized by , that the spacer 20 consists of a light metal profile. [3] Device for securing persons according to claim 2, characterized by , that clamping elements can be inserted into the open ends of the light metal profile (22), which can be clamped with band-shaped sections of the carabiner arms (3a, 3b).

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