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I acquired my Bassett Metal Studios from Inner Mountain Outfitters at the 1997 NSS Convention.
My Bassett Metal Studios is 70 mm. long, 190 mm. wide, 49 mm. high, and weighs 273 g. It is a single channel chest box consisting of an aluminum back plate with a single roller and button-activated gate mounted on a block bolted to the back plate. The swinging gate that opens by pushing a button on the gate side of the roller, then pivoting the gate out of the way. The knob on the opposite side turns with the gate. The back plate has 50 mm. tall vertical slots for attaching the box to a chest strap and 28 mm. wide horizontal slots for attaching shoulder straps. There are two 5 mm. holes near the bottom of the back plate.
The back plate has "BMS" milled into it.
This box is nicely made, but somewhat massive. With only one roller, it is unsuitable for the Mitchell system, but works well for double-bungee rigs.
The holes at the bottom are for attaching a small pulley for double-bungee rigs as shown on the Vertical Supply box.
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I acquired my R. C. Schroeder, Version B from R. C. Schroeder at the 1995 Speleofest.
My R. C. Schroeder, Version B is 38 mm. long, 240 mm. wide, 51 mm. high, and weighs 167 g. It is a single channel chest box consisting of a skeletonized back plate and a single plastic roller with a side-entry gate.The gate that opens by pushing the button on the frame side of the roller, then pivoting the gate out of the way. The back plate has 26 mm. tall vertical slots for attaching the box to a chest strap and 25 mm. wide horizontal slots for attaching shoulder straps.
There are no markings on this box.
This box is nicely made, and the skeletonized design reduces its weight considerably. With only one roller, it is unsuitable for the Mitchell system, but works well for double-bungee rigs. The vertical slots are too short for the parachute webbing normally used for chest harnesses, so one would use 25 mm. webbing sewn to wider webbing if one wants the comfort of a wider chest strap.
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