Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~2~090
HARNESS FOR A SA~TY LIN~
Technical field of the invention
. This invention relates to a harness for a safety
line of the type which is in,ended to hold a oerson
climbing a pole or the like, while allowing him to have
his hands free, comprising two suitably loop-shaped
fastening means for the safety line which are each
arranged along a shoulder strap of the harness, whereby
tensile stresses applied to said fastening means from
the safety line are distributed to the harness via
said shoulder straps.
Backqround of the invention
In connection with mounting or repair work on such
poles as telephone poles or power-line pylons, the
operator uses not only a pair of climbing irons, but
also a safety line which can be passed around the
pole for retaining the operator in an obliquely rear-
wardly-u~wardly inclined position in which he has
his hands free for manipulating the tools and the
wiring equipment required for carrying out the work.
Traditionally, the safety line is fastened to a simple
belt strapped around the opperator's waist. More speci-
fically, this is done by fastening safety hooks mounted
on the safety line, in loops or rings mounted on the
front portion of the belt. A serious drawback of this
arrangement however is that the load exerted by the
weight of the operator must be taken up by the relatively
- narrow belt which supports only the lower part of
the operator's back, but leaves the other parts of
the back without any support whatsoever. In practice,
this means that the spine of the operator is subjected
to extreme stresses in the area o the lumbar vertebrae,
with serious, often irrepairable wear of the vertebrae
as a result.
To overcome the problems sta.ed above, it is
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desirable to apply the fastening means for the safety
line to a harness having shoulder straps which, far
more efficiently than a simple belt, can distribute
the stresses over the operatorls body. Such a harness
is previously known from AT 383,493, but in this prior
art harness, the fastening means are fixedly mounted
on the pertaining shoulder strap in a position given
once and for all. This means that the operator never-
theless will be subjected to stresses concentrated
in certain points of his body and resulting in that
the harness straps will be tightened abruptly and with
a pull when he leans backwards. This occurs in a pre-
determined rear end position from which the operator
cannot lean further backwards. In practice, the operator
will thus find the harness uncomfortable and too tight-
fitting.
Summary of the invention
The present invention aims at further develoDing
the known harness such that it becomes comfortable and
easy to use in practice. According to the invention, this
is achieved in that each fastening means is movable along
a guide associated with the pertaining shoulder strap
and acted on by one or more resilient means yieldingly
counteracting the movements of the fastening means
along said guide.
Brief descri~tion_of the drawinqs~
In the drawings,
FIG 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of
the inventive harness with a pertaining safety
line,
FIG 2 is a schematic side view showing the use of
the harness in connection with pole climbing,
FIG 3 is a front view of a further developed embodiment
of the inventive harness,5 FIG 4 is a rea~ view of the harness according to Fig. 3,
and
FIGS 5 and 6 are detailed views showing a fastening mear.s
~2~090
in two differen~ states of operation.
Detailed descri~tion of Dreferred embodiments of the
invention
In Fig. 1, the inventive harness is generally
designated 1, while 2 designates a safety line which in
conventional manner comprises both stationary hook
means 3 and movable hook means 4 which can be locked
in the desired position along the line 2 by means
of a locking mechanism 5.
In addition to a waist belt 6, the harness 1 has
two shoulder straps 7,7' which are connected at their
front ends to the front portion of the waist belt 6.
Suitably, this connection is brousht about by means of
loops 8,8' which allow a certain displacement or adjust-
lS ment of the shoulder straps along the waist belt.
At their rear ends, the shoulder straps 7,7' are connected
to a support plate 9, in turn connected to the rear
portion of the waist belt 6 by means of two comparatively
short connecting straps 10,10'. These connecting straps
may either be separate straps which at opposite ends
are fixed or connected to the support plate and the
waist belt, or be parts of the shoulder straps 7,7',
the support plate 9 being connected to the straps in a
suitable manner and optionally being displaceable along
them. Spaced from the wa_st belt 6 and substantially
parallel to it, there are further provided side straps
11,11' extending from the rear support plate 9 to
the front portions of the shoulder straps 7,7'.
In the illustrated example, each of the shoulder
straps 7,7' is provided with a rod-shaped or tubular
element 12 serving as a guide for a fastening means
generally designated 13 and consisting of a tubular
member 14 movable back and forth along the rod-shaped
element, and of a loop or ring 15 which is fixed to
the tubular member and in which the respective hoo~ 3,
4 can be fastened. There are further provided, both
above and belo~ the tubular member 14, helical compression
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springs 16 sur-ounding ~he rocl-shaped element and
yieldtngly coun~er2ctins the movements of the tubular
member along the rod-shaped element. In practive,
it may be advantageous to provide a plurality of rela-
tively short springs on each side of the tubular memberor fastening means, it being possible to shift the
individual springs from a position above the fastening
means to a position below it, and vice versa. In this
manner, the fastening means can be placed in different,
individually selectable initial positions adapted to
the bearer of the harness.
The operation and advantages of the inventive harness
are obvious. When the safetly line is held placed around
a pole as shown in Fig. 2, the tensile stresses applied
to the line by the operator leaning backwards will be
transmitted to- the two fastening means 13 which by
their cooperation with the upper and lower springs 16
on the guide elements will be displaced by gently
resilient motions~wi1:hout giving rise to any ~erky
tightening of the harness straps. By the resilient
mounting of the fastening means, the operator will
find the harness comfortable and easy to work in.
When the operator leans backwards, the lower springs
will be progressively compressed, giving however the
operator full freedom of movement, not only forwards
but also backwards as long 25 the lower springs have
not been completely compressed. In other words, the
springs will obviate the occurrence of an unresilient
end position, which is found in the known harness
where the fastening means are fixedly mounted on the
shoulder straps.
Reference is now made to Figs 3-6 illustrating a
harness 1' without a particular waist belt. Thus, this
harness comprises two shoulder straps crossing each
other on the operator's back and placed in loops 17,17'
passing around the legs of the operator. On the operator's
chest, the two straps 7,7' are held together by a
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cross-strap 18 slidable along these straps and having
a buc~le 19 dividing the cross-s~rap into two pieces.
In the illustrated embodiment, the fastening means
13' consists of a plate or plate-shaped member having
.,two holes 20,21, the first 20 of which serves to receiYe
either of the hook means 3,4 of the safety line 2. The
other hole 21 serves as a passage for the pertaining
shoulder strap 7. In this case, the shoulder strap 7
itself serves as the suide along which the fastening
means is movable. To the intermediate part 22 located
between the holes 20 and 21 is fixed one end of an
elastic band 23, especially a reinforced rubber band, -
which serves as spring means for the fastening means
13' and the opposite end of which is fixed to the
lS shoulder strap, either directly to the shoulder strap
vi~a a seam or by means of a fitting which is adjustable
in different positions relative to the strap. Fig. S
shows the spring means or band 23 in an untensioned
state, while Fiq. 6 shows the same band in an extended
or stretched state which arises when the operator
leans backwards. In practice, the elastically yielding
band 23 may be so conceived as to allow the fastening
means 13' to move at least about 200 mm from the initial
position shown in Fig. 5 to a maximally-stretched
state. Although, in this case, it is preferred to
connect the fastening means to a single elastic band
which can be stretched and serves as a tension spring,
it is also conceivable on the opposite side, i.e.
the lower side of the fastening means, to provide a
second elastic band which, together with the upper
elastic band, can hold the fastening means in an initial
position from which it can move both upwards and downwards
against the action of the respective rubber band.
Conceivable modifications of the invention
I~ goes ~ithout saying that the invention is not
restric~ed only to the embodiments described above and
illustrated in the drawings. Thus, it is conceivable,
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for instance, to provide the harness shown in Figs 3
and 4 with loops or fittings which allow applying a
special waist belt designed as ancillary equipment,
supplementing the harness when the operator so desires.
Further, the design of the fastening means 13, 13' may
- of course vary within wide limits, like the design
of the spring means, whether these are compression
springs or tension springs.
