Brake Belays

Version A	Version B
Right Side

Version A	Version B
Left Side

Version A	Version B
End View

If you know who made these and/or can provide more information, please email me.

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Version A (#1614)

Technical Details

I acquired Version A used on eBay from Dawn Kordek in 2008.

Version A is 225 mm. tall, 170 mm. wide, 160 mm. thick, and weighs 3810 g.

The body is made from 1/8" (3.2 mm.) stainless steel sheet bent to form a U-shaped channel. The internal width of the channel is 28 mm., but near the attachment holes this tapers to 14 mm. The holes themselves are 19 mm. in diameter. 9.5 mm. stainless steel rods welded at the top, center, and bottom provide additional rigidity. Inside the channel are two pulley wheels made from a soft rubbery material. The wheels are 95 mm. in diameter and 24 mm. thick, with a 14.5 mm. wide rope channel cut to a depth of 14 mm.

One side of the device has brackets that support an Avia disc brake assembly that acts on a disc attached to one of the pulleys with a keyed aluminum block. A 3.2 mm. steel cable with a loop in the end activates the disc brake.

On the other side of the device is another brake assembly that appears to be inertialy activated. There was obviously a piece missing since the drum is free to turn. To make it work properly, I need to fabricated something similar to what is on Version B.

Comments

I tried to get more information from Dawn, but she had acquired these indirectly and couldn't provide any details on their origins. She wrote:

These were bought from a rock climbing business by an auctioneer. Sadly, I don't have any other information on them except for them being repaired and in working condition. Sorry I can't be of more help.

What can I say? It is by no means obvious exactly what the designer had in mind for rigging these, and there aren't any wear marks to guide me.

1. My first thought is that the pulley with the brake should be the lower one, and the rope would run around it and then around the idler, taking an "S" path similar to the rope path taken in a bobbin. There are two problems with this idea. First, the rope would have to run over the inside edge of the channel, and this edge is quite sharp. Second, there does not seem to be enough clearance between the pulleys and the inside of the rope channel for the rope to pass itself (the clearance is especially tight on Version B).
2. A second idea is that the pulley with the brake should be on top, but with this arrangement, the rope makes only a small bend over the pulley, and might slip.

However the rope runs, getting it into place requires having the free end of the line available, since the device does not open for rigging. As for the brake cable, I don't know what it attached to or how the belayer operated it.

These were clearly meant as either experimental curiosities (my guess) or for use in a climbing school. They obviously are too heavy for normal climbing use.

I can hardly give this a lemon award if I don't know how the designer intended this to work. Maybe I need a different award?

[ Top | Version A | Return to Misc. Belay ]

Version B (#1615)

I acquired Version B used on eBay from Dawn Kordek in 2008.

Version B is 210 mm. tall, 167 mm. wide, 174 mm. thick, and weighs 4445 g. The shell does not taper toward the attachment holes as the Version A shell does, and the top and bottom support pins are omitted. There are minor differences in the brake disc assembly. A bar with two pins supports the brake drum assembly.

[ Top | Version A | Version B ]

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©2009, Gary D. Storrick