WO2014083453A1

WO2014083453A1 - Personal emergency descending device

Info

Publication number: WO2014083453A1
Application number: PCT/IB2013/059882
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lloyd Marco REPETTO; Massimo DE GRUTTOLA
Original assignee: Tecnobelt Siten S.R.L.
Priority date: 2012-11-30
Filing date: 2013-11-04
Publication date: 2014-06-05
Also published as: ITTO20121033A1

Abstract

A personal emergency descending device comprising a length of flexible line (2) provided at one end (3) with a member (6) for anchorage to a fixed structure, and a descender (8) that can slide in a braked way along said flexible line (2) and that is provided with a member (18) for attachment to a harness (19) that can be worn by a user. The flexible line consists of a tubular web (2) of polymeric fabric, and the descender (8) is configured for co-operating with said tubular web (2) so as to enable in use controlled descent of the user, hanging via the harness (19) from the attachment member (18), even without manual action on the part of the user himself.

Description

"Personal emergency descending device"

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Field of the invention

The subject of the present invention is a personal descending device designed to be used in emergency situations, typically in the case of fires within closed environments, such as dwellings, hotel rooms and offices, to enable a user to be lowered in all safety on the outside of the premises from which there would be no other way out.

Prior art

Known in the art are devices for personal emergency descent comprising a length of flexible line provided at one end with a member for anchorage to a fixed structure, and a descender that can slide in a braked way along the flexible line and that is provided with a member for attachment to a harness that can be worn by the user.

Examples of devices of this sort are described and illustrated, for example, in the documents Nos. CN- 201308732U, CN-202044663U and KR-100860286B1.

The known solutions described in these documents use, for the flexible line, a simple cable or a rope, and the corresponding descender normally has to be manoeuvred actively by the user to brake its speed of descent .

Control of descent hence requires from the user a certain amount of skill or at least a familiarity with the necessary manoeuvres, acquired following upon a specific training, which in any case is hardly suited to emergency situations that require the use of the device and that may also lead to panic on the part of the user.

Furthermore, the rope or cable along which the descender is made to slide may be subject to a fast thermal degradation due to friction, with the result of further difficulty in control of the descent by the user .

EP-0230965A2 discloses a descending rescue system corresponding to the pre-characterizing part of claim 1.

Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to overcome the above drawbacks and to provide a personal emergency device of the type specified above that will be able both to simplify and facilitate the step of descent and to ensure a greater safety and reliability.

With a view to achieving the above object, the personal emergency descending device according to the invention is mainly characterized by the features set forth in the characterizing part of claim 1.

The main advantages deriving from this arrangement are basically the following:

- the tubular web along which in use the descender slides enables the area of mutual friction contact to be shared along the double surface of the web, dissipating more effectively the heat developed by rubbing and thus ensuring a better control and a speed of descent that is kept slow in a substantially constant way, typically less than 2 m/s, substantially regardless of the weight of the user;

-controlled descent without any need for manoeuvring the descender manually likewise enables the device according to the invention to be rendered particularly safe, even in the cases where the user does not have any particular skill or has not received a specific training, and even in the case where the user is in a state of confusion or even panic.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the descender includes a plate having a first friction-operated return bar and a second friction-operated return bar that project from a face of the plate and are set apart from one another, a transverse slit adjacent to the first return bar, a longitudinal opening set between the transverse slit and the second return bar, and a slider that can slide longitudinally along the opening. The arrangement is such that the tubular web, towards its end provided with the member for anchorage to a fixed structure, enters the descender through the slit, is sent back over the first return bar and then over the second return bar, exits through the slit and then goes back in through the longitudinal opening in front of the slider, and finally exits again from the descender through the longitudinal opening, behind the slider.

Preferably, the slider has a knurled or serrated front surface in contact with the tubular web, and said tubular web is conveniently made of a fire-proofed polyester-fibre fabric.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the annexed drawings, which are provided purely by way of non-limiting example and in which:

- Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a personal emergency descending device according to the invention, represented in a configuration packed in a backpack;

- Figure 2 is a view similar to that of Figure 1, which shows the components of the device partly extracted from the backpack;

- Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view at a larger scale that shows the co-operation between the flexible line and the descender of the device according to the invention;

- Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of the flexible line according to the arrows IV-IV of Figure 3;

- Figure 5 is a view similar to that of Figure 3 of just the descender; and

- Figure 6 is a schematic perspective view that exemplifies the use of the device according to the invention .

Detailed description of the invention

With initial reference to Figures 1 and 2, the personal emergency descending device according to the invention comprises a flexible backpack 1, contained in a folded condition in which is a length, of a few dozen metres, of a flexible line 2 which, according to a first peculiar characteristic of the invention and as is represented in detail in Figure 4, consists of a tubular web of polymeric fabric. More in particular, the fabric of the tubular web 2 may consist of fire- proofed polyester fibres.

One end of the tubular web 2 is permanently anchored to an attachment (not shown in the drawings) provided within the backpack 1, whilst the other end, designated by 3, exits from the backpack 1 through an opening 4 made in its top wall 5. This end 3 is connected to an anchoring member 5, typically constituted by a fast-open/close spring catch 6, designed to be hooked to a fixed structure. At rest, the spring catch 6 is attached to an external eyelet 7 of the backpack 1, in the way represented in Figure 1, so as to be immediately accessible.

With more detailed reference now to Figures 3 and

5, the device according to the invention further includes a descender 8, which is slidably coupled in a braked way to the tubular web 2 and, at rest, is housed within an outer pocket 9 of the backpack 1.

The particular configuration of the descender 8 constitutes a second peculiar characteristic of the invention: as may be seen more clearly in Figure 5, it comprises a robust metal plate 10 provided with a first friction-operated return bar 11 and a second friction- operated return bar 12, which are generally U-shaped, projecting from one and the same side of the plate 10 and set apart from one another. Adjacent to the first return bar 11 the plate 10 has a transverse slit 13, and a longitudinal opening 14 is set between said slit 13 and the second return bar 12. Mounted longitudinally within the opening 14 in a slidable way is a slider 15 having a knurled or serrated front face 16.

As may be clearly seen in Figure 3, the tubular web 2 enters the descender 8 through the slit 13, is sent back over the first return bar 11 and then over the second return bar 12, returns towards the transverse slit 13 traversing it again and goes back in through the longitudinal opening 14 in front of the front face 16 of the slider 15. The tubular web 15 exits again from the longitudinal opening 14 passing behind the slider 15, towards the end 3 provided with the spring catch 6.

On the side of the first return bar 11 the plate 10 of the descender 8 has an eyelet 17 for connection of a connector 18 for attachment to a harness 19 (Figure 2) that can be worn by a user. Said harness 19, which comprises in a conventional way a belt with braces and thigh pieces, is normally folded within a fast-opening outer pocket 20 of the backpack 1.

Figure 6 exemplifies the modalities of use of the device according to the invention: the user, after taking out and donning the harness 19 and connecting it in the way illustrated to the connector 18 for attachment of the descender 8, attaches the anchoring member 6 of the end 3 of the tubular web 2 to a sturdy fixed structure situated inside or immediately on the outside of the premises from which he has to lower himself in emergency situations.

Then, after letting the backpack 1 drop so as to enable unfolding of the tubular web 2 through the opening 4, he leans out into the open and then lowers himself downwards. The interaction between the two peculiar characteristics of the invention, i.e., the tubular conformation of the web 2 and the configuration described above of the descender 8, enables two effects that are extremely advantageous from the standpoint of the ease of use and of safety of the device to be obtained. In the first place, controlled descent of the user hanging from the attachment member 6 is obtained at a substantially constant low speed (not higher than 2 m/s) without the need to manoeuvre the descender 8, if not to arrest descent by turning it upwards. In the second place, the double layer of the tubular web 2, in its passages described above through the descender 8, is able to dissipate effectively the heat produced during descent on account of the sliding friction, ensuring at the same time a better distribution of the surfaces of contact between the web 2 and the descender 8.

A further advantage deriving from the invention, and in particular from the combination between the tubular web 2 and the configuration of the descender 8, lies in the fact that the speed of descent is substantially the same regardless of the weight of the user.

Of course, the details of construction and the embodiments may vary widely with respect to what has been described and illustrated herein, without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the ensuing claims.

Claims

1. A personal emergency descending device comprising a length of flexible line (2) provided at one end (3) with a member (6) for anchorage to a fixed structure, and a descender (8) that can slide in a braked way along said flexible line (2) and that is provided with a member (18) for attachment to a harness (19) that can be worn by a user, wherein the flexible line consists of a tubular web (2) of polymeric fabric, said device being characterized in that said descender (8) is configured for co-operating with said tubular web (2) so as to enable in use controlled descent of the user, hanging via said harness (19) from said attachment member (18), even without manual action on the part of the user himself.

2. The device according to Claim 1, characterized in that said descender (8) includes a plate (10) having a first friction-operated return bar (11) and a second friction-operated return bar (12), which project from a face of the plate (10) and are set apart from one another, a transverse slit (13) adjacent to the first return bar (11), a longitudinal opening (14) set between said transverse slit (13) and said second return bar (12), and a slider (15) that can slide longitudinally along said opening (14); the arrangement being such that said tubular web (2), towards said end (3), enters the descender (8) through said slit (13), is sent back over said first return bar (11) and then over said second return bar (12), exits through said slit (13) and then goes back in through said longitudinal opening (14) in front of said slider (15), and exits again from the descender (8) through said longitudinal opening (14), behind said slider (15).

3. The device according to Claim 2, characterized in that the plate (10) of the descender (8) has an eyelet (17) for connection of said attachment member (18) .

4. The device according to Claim 2, characterized in that said slider (15) has a knurled or serrated front surface (16) in contact with said tubular web (2) .

5. The device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said tubular web (2) is of a fire-proofed polyester-fibre fabric.

6. The device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises a backpack (1) for containing said tubular web (2), the end (3) of which bearing said anchoring member (6) exits from the backpack (1) through a top opening (4) of the latter and the opposite end of which is fixed inside said backpack (1) .

7. The device according to Claim 6, characterized in that said backpack (1) includes a fast-opening outer pocket (20), housed within which is said harness (19).

8. The device according to Claim 7, characterized in that said backpack (1) includes a further outer pocket (9), extractably housed within which are said descender (8) and said attachment member (18) .

9. The device according to one or more of Claims 6 to 8, characterized in that said backpack (1) includes an outer ring (7) for temporary attachment of said anchoring member (6) .