Triple-Noose Rope Shackle for Secure Lightweight Load Coupling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Metal shackles are heavy, bulky, and difficult to manually lift and deploy, posing safety risks and storage challenges, while soft shackles with buttons are prone to rope damage and unsafe load disengagement.
Innovation Solution
A shackle design featuring a flexible elongate member with a continuous endless circuit forming three noose portions, allowing for proportional tightening and loosening through a shackle pin, and optionally sheathed with durable materials for enhanced safety and ease of use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If metal shackles are designed to be strong for heavy load situations, then load-bearing capacity is improved, but weight and bulkiness increase making them difficult to manually lift and deploy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional rigid metal shackle construction with a flexible rope-based structure. The rope is configured to pass through itself and form three sequentially adjacent noose portions that collectively provide the structural strength needed for heavy loads while maintaining flexibility and significantly reducing weight compared to metal alternatives.
2Strength
If metal shackles are designed to be strong for heavy load situations, then load-bearing capacity is improved, but storage difficulty increases due to heavy weight and bulkiness
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible rope construction allows the shackle to be coiled or folded into a compact form for storage, dramatically improving storage ease compared to rigid metal shackles that maintain their bulky shape regardless of storage conditions.
3Ease of operation
If soft shackles use a button design, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to rope damage and unsafe load disengagement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a dynamic locking mechanism where the rope passes through itself to form three sequentially adjacent noose portions. The intermediate noose portion acts as a self-locking feature that dynamically responds to load forces, preventing accidental disengagement while maintaining ease of operation during proper coupling.
Solution Approach 2:
The triple-noose configuration provides inherent redundancy and safety margins before failure can occur. The intermediate noose portion serves as a protective element that prevents direct failure modes present in simpler button designs, cushioning against operational errors or rope damage.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design provides a lightweight, safer, and more manageable shackle that reduces the risk of catastrophic failure and enhances user safety by preventing accidental disengagement, while maintaining high load-bearing capacity.
Implementation Method 1
a contraction or extension of the intermediate noose portion causes a movement of said length of rope through where the elongate member passes through itself, thereby effecting a proportional tightening or loosening of one or each of said end noose portions
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3
AI summary
The present invention relates to a shackle (100). The shackle comprises a shackle body (101) for use with a shackle pin (102).The shackle body (101) comprises a flexible elongate member (104) comprising at least one length of rope circuitously formed so that the flexible elongate member (104) passes through itself and defines three sequentially 5 adjacent noose portions Three sequentially adjacent noose portions comprise an intermediate noose portion (110) and two end noose portions (108, 109) at opposing ends of the shackle body (101).