Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
The invention relates to a rope clamp in the form of a
hook which may be hung on a horizontal rail, ring or fixed
hook, to clamp a bight of rope firmly.
When an object is suspended by a rope attached to a
rail, ring, etc., it is usual to tie the rope to the support
so that the object is suspended at the desired height. In
many case it is necessary to make a number of attempts to
tie the rope such that the object is suspended at exactly
the right height. For some purposes, it may be desired to
adjust the length of rope between the object and the knot
quite frequently. For each adjustment various attempts may
be made since it is not easy to gauge the exact amount of
slack in the rope.
One example of a situation where frequent adjustments
of height are required is that of boat fenders. Boat
fenders are often suspended from a horizontal rail of a boat
to dangle against the side of the boat so as to protect the
side of the boat from damage when approaching a dock or
other structure. Frequently the fenders will be untied and
brought inboard when not required for use.
The present invention provides an easy to use rope
clamp in the form of a hook which may be used to suspend
objects on a rope and which may be hooked onto a support
such as a rail, ring or other support object. The rope
clamp of the invention provides quick release means whereby
grip of the rope clamp may be released for adjustment of the
height of the suspended object.
According to the invention a rope clamp comprises an
open hook for hanging on a support, the hook having a
forward opening for accessing the support, the hook
comprising a pair of parallel walls forming:
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an arch having a free forward end adjacent said
opening, and
a lower body portion depending from the arched portion;
the arch comprising a channel for rope between said
parallel walls, the channel being open exteriorly of a curve
of the arch and closed interiorly of the curve of the arch
by a base wall connecting said parallel walls;
the lower portion comprising an entry guide to direct
rope entering said channel at the free forward end of the
arch to bias a bight of said rope towards said base wall;
and
an exit guide to direct rope exiting from said channel
forwardly to additionally bias said bight of rope towards
said base wall;
wedges being provided between inner surfaces of the
parallel walls to grip the rope.
The lower portion may comprise a body portion merging
with the arch, and in which said entry guide comprises a
vertical cylindrical open ended channel for rope between the
parallel walls and located below and spaced below said free
forward end of the arch.
The exit guide may comprise a slot for rope across on
of said parallel walls from back to front. Conveniently the
slot slopes downwardly from back to front. Rope in the
channel of the hook emerges from the channel at the lower
back of the arch and may be manually pulled forward to lodge
it in the slot of the exit guide. This action biases the
rope in the channel forwardly towards the base wall and
helps to lodge it firmly between the gripping wedges. To
unclamp the rope it may be removed from the slot and pulled
rearwardly away from the wedge.
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The exit guide may comprise a short, vertical open
ended U-channel for rope, extending downwardly from a front
end of said slot.
The wedges may be symmetrically arranged in pairs on
inner surfaces of both parallel walls, each pair forming a
progressively narrowing gripping or clamping region for
rope. Conveniently four pairs of wedges are provided.
An embodiment of the invention will now be described by
way of example with reference to the drawings in which:
Figure 1 illustrates a hook rope clamp according to the
invention in clamped position;
Figure 2 shows the rope clamp of Figure 1 with rope
loosely positioned in it;
Figure 3 shows the rope clamp of Figures 1 and 2 with
rope positioned mid-way between clamped and loose positions;
Figure 4 shows the rope clamp of Figure 1 with rope
clamped therein from the front;
Figure 5 is a view similar to that of Figure 4 but
without rope;
Figure 6 shows the rope clamp of the previous Figures
from the top (without rope);
Figure 7 shows the rope clamp of the previous Figures
from the bottom (without rope);
Figure 8 shows the rope clamp of the previous Figure
from the back with rope clamped therein; and
Figure 9 shows the rope clamp of Figure 8 without rope
in order to show the gripping wedges.
The drawings show a rope clamp 10 of generally open
hook shaped configuration and including an upper hook
portion 12 in the form of an arch. The rope clamp 10 may
comprise a pair of parallel walls 20 joined by a base wall
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21 to forma U-shaped channel 18 open to the exterior of the
curve about the arch 12. The whole unit may be injection
molded from resilient plastics material such as
polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinylchloride, etc. The
arch 12 has a free end 14 and another end merging into a
lower portion 16. The generally parallel walls 20 extend
into lower portion 16.
The open channel 18 between the parallel walls 20 opens
at the end 14 and widens into the region between the
parallel walls 20 of the lower portion 16.
Lower portion 16 extends downwardly and laterally below
arch 12. At a front part it is provided with a first rope
guide extension 22 for guiding an entry bight of rope 23
into channel 18 at free end 14 of arch 12. The guide
extension 22 has a vertical tubular guide passage 24 through
it. First rope guide extension 22 is so arranged that guide
passage 24 is generally aligned with channel 18 at end 14 of
arch 12. The diameter of channel 18 and the width of
passage 24 may be generally similar and is selected to hold
rope of various diameters slidably within the guide passage
24 and channel 18 respectively.
A second rope guide extension 26 is located on body
portion 16 to bias an exit bight of rope 25 forwardly. Rope
guide extension 26 may comprise any lug, hook or ledge etc
positioned forwardly of the bach of arch 12. As
illustrated, however, rope guide extension 26 comprises an
open vertical channel 28 parallel to and rearward of passage
24 of first rope guide 22. Channel 28 opens forwardly and
may have similar width to that of channel 18 and the
diameter of passage 24.
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An open ended slot 31 is provided in one of the side
walls 20 from the lower rear part of arch 12 to the tope of
channel 28. Slot 31 has a width to allow insertion of the
thickness of the rope. Slot 31 preferably slopes downwardly
towards the top of channel 28 but it may be horizontal. The
bight of rope 23 is led forwardly in slot 31 and passed into
and downwardly through channel 28.
In operation a fender 30 or other suspended object is
attached to one end of bight of rope 25. Bight 25 passes
vertically through passage 24 in extension 22 and then
around the arch 12 in channel 18 and thence through the
lower portion 16 between side walls 20. The exiting bight
of rope 23 is pulled forward through slot 31 to lie in
channel 28. Thus, due to the location of bights 23 and 25,
a middle bight 32 of rope tends to tighten about arch 12
towards its rear within channel 18. Gripping or clamping
wedges 27 are provided to narrow the channel 18 towards the
base wall 21 to grip the rope.
In order to tighten the rope in the clamping jaws by
moving it further into the narrow region between them and to
force them resiliently further apart to exert greater
clamping force, it may be released from channel 28 by
pulling it forward (see Figure 3) so that it lies in slot
31. If the rope is now pulled downwardly in the direction
of arrow A (see Figure 3) it will be tightened in between
clamping wedges 27.
To release the rope in the clamping wedges 27 it may be
pulled forward out of channel 28 and then moved rearwardly
in slot 31 until it reaches the rearmost portion of the slot
where the grip of clamping wedges 27 will be released. (see
Figure 2). In this position the rope will be free from all
restraints but will be guided in channel 18 and unless
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tension is kept on the rope, fender 30 would drop under its
own weight.
The wedges 27 may be angled to the vertical so that it
is possible to draw rope through the clamp 10 in one
direction but not in the other. For example, if a pair of
wedges narrow the channel 18 between them so that the wider
part of the channel is lower than the narrowed part rope may
be pulled through clamping wedges 27 to raise fender 30 even
when the rope is configured in channel 28 as shown in Figure
1. Depending on the angle between clamping wedges 27 and
the configuration of parallel walls 20 of lower portion 16,
fender 30 will remain in position when no further pressure
is exerted to pull rope downwardly through channel 28. If
fender 30 is unduly heavy or the friction exerted by
clamping wedges 27 is insufficient, the end of rope 30 may
be released from channel 28 and the rope may be pulled
forwardly in slot 31 to further fix the rope in clamping
wedges 27. The rope may then be returned to channel 28 to
guard against repositioning.
Conveniently four pairs of symmetrical wedges 27 are
provided and they may conveniently be set at an angle of say
45° to the vertical so that the widest point between each
pair is appreciably lower then the narrowed point. The
wedges 27 themselves may widen from a point at any
convenient angle. This angle should be small to encourage
squeezing or clamping the between pairs of wedges. A
suitable angle at which the wedges may widen is 10°. They
need not widen laterally and vertically at similar angles.
For example each wedge may widen at 7° in the vertical plane
but 10° in the lateral plane.
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The internal curve of hook 12 may conveniently be
provided with a liner to provide grip with the rail on which
it is to be hung. The liner may be gum rubber.
The device may be useful with rails of 1 inch or 7/8 of
an inch. It is, however, possible to provide hooks to fit
other rail shapes.
