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[TowerTalk] Climbing belt Rings

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Climbing belt Rings
From: aa6eg@hh.tmx.com (Pat Barthelow)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 13:07:15 -0800 (PST)
O.K.....

Still some lack of clarity......Steve has correctly identified the
differences between MOUNTAIN, and other types of  climbing harnesses, and
TOWER climbing
belts/harnesses.... but the thread below is still confusing....
My lanyard is the old style, with beefy, simple, spring loaded closures
that close the hook in use.  These are susceptible to unlatching through
the rollout mechanism described before.  I will replace it  with a
belt having  what I
call locking latches  having a SINGLE LOCKING mechanism which is a
spring loaded device that is required to be held back from it's at
rest-position,
in order to manually push back the hinged, spring loaded hook closures.
I guess I interpret the word latch to refer to the LOCKING  mechanism
itself.  According to the referenced Legal case study of a tower fall and
associated lawsuit, some professionals questioned in connection with the
case  did not like the double action
feature, because it required them to remove the other hand from the tower
to release the lock, and then the belt hook.  The two handed approach was
considered by the interviewed  professionals to be more risky than the
use of less safe simpler
hooks, accompanied by religiously followed procedures to check for twists
in the hook, (which could cause the rollout action) before leaning back on
the belt.  
        Are current locking latches able to be released with one hand?
Someone should take closeup pics and post them on a web page....
73, DX, de Pat, AA6EG/N6IJ; 
aa6eg@hh.tmx.com

599 DX Drive, Marina CA 93933
"The Contest Station from the Government"

On Thu, 11 Feb 1999 w2xx@cloud9.net wrote:

> 
> > My lanyards have a single spring locked latch on each end. Am I to
> > understand that newer lanyards have 2 latches on each end for a total of 4
> > latches per lanyard? 
> 
> Steve wrote back and said yes, but I believe he misunderstood the
> question.  There are *not* four latches (two on each end) but
> rather two spring released latches on each catch )snap-hook) at
> the ends of the lanyard.
> 
> In other words, it is a double-action mechanism to release the
> snap-hook from the D-ring on your belt.  This prevents the
> possible twisting of the snap-hook in the D-ring and the subsequent
> premature or unintended release of yourself from the tower.
> 
> It's not the fall that kills you, but the sudden stop at the
> bottom.
> 
> J.P. W2XX
> 
> -- 
> ======================================================================
> J.P. Kleinhaus, W2XX  
> E-mail:  w2xx@cloud9.net
>        w2xx@arrl.org
> 
> I am Pentium of Borg...Precision is futile...You will be approximated!
> ======================================================================
> 
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