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Mini-TraxionI acquired my Petzl Mini-Traxion from Inner Mountain Outfittersin 1999. The Petzl Mini-Traxion is 60 mm tall, 86 mm wide, and 34 mm thick. Mine weighs 173 g.
The Mini-Traxion consists of a pulley and a spring-loaded toothed cam mounted between two comma-shaped stamped 3 mm aluminum face plates. The plates are connected by a 6 mm(?) rivet which also serves as the pulley's axle. Steel washers are placed between the side plates and the rivet heads.
The sheave is a 19 mm wide unfinished aluminum turning with an outer diameter ranging from 18.8 mm in the center to 31.5 mm at the sides.
The cam is mounted on a 22.2 mm(?), 18.6 mm I.D. tube. The center of the tube serves as the main carabiner connecting point. Both face plates have holes aligned with this tube. The cam is a steel casting with a toothed eccentric cam design. The cam angle is only about 19°, although it appears much steeper.The teeth are aggressive, down-sloping teeth with a (3.4)(1S1)(2S1)(1S1)(2)(1s1)^2(1.2)^2 pattern where S and s are long and short mud relief slots, respectively.
The cam safety is a spring-loaded plastic piece mounted on the base of the cam. A stainless steel pin mounted in the safety projects into an irregular arc-shaped slot in the rear face plate. This slot has a notch where the rod can rest to hold the cam open.
The front faceplate is stamped with "PATENTED", the Petzl logo, "MINI Traxion", arrows showing that the front face plate can actually open, an icon showing a body being lifted with "4 kN" and "EN537," another icon showing rope loads of "10 kN" , a pulley force of "20 kN" and "EN12278," and finally "ROPE 8<Ø<13." The rear faceplate is stamped with Petzl's "reading is dangerous" icon, "CE0197," the UIAA logo, "MADE IN FRANCE," and the date code "9926C." The inside of the rear faceplate has a stamped icon showing a body being hauled into the device.
The Mini-Traxion is very light for a man-rated hauling pulley. It looks flimsy beside the large monsters like the CMI Uplift, RSI Rescue Hauling Pulley, and SRT RM22 Rescuemate, but apparently it is strong enough to pass European safety standards.The cam teeth are aggressive, but don't seem to do any rope damage unless one is stupid enough to rely on it to catch a dropped load. The front faceplate is barely held closed by a tiny lip on the cam axle; however, with a carabiner in place it can't open far. The thumb-activated cam latch takes some getting used to. Within 60 seconds of receiving my Mini-Traxion, I managed to catch my thumbnail on the frame, which tore the corner of the nail loose.
Still, all things considered, for it's size the Mini-Traxion
is impressive, and it deserves a star:
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I acquired my Petzl Pro-Traxion from Inner Mountain Outfitters in 2001. The Petzl Pro-Traxion is 126 mm tall, 66 mm wide, and 36 mm thick. Mine weighs 288 g.
The Pro-Traxion is similar to the Mini-Traxion. The faceplates are larger, so there is room for a small (12.5 mm by 15.2 mm) carabiner hole below the cam. Some carabiners may not fit in this hole. The front faceplate pivots on the cam axle instead of the pulley axle. A spring-loaded plunger on the pulley axle hods the front faceplate closed. This method provides more security than the Mini-Traxion's approach. The pulley is larger: 38.3 mm center O.D., 47.6 mm side O.D.
Although the Pro-Traxion has several improvements over the Mini-Traxion, I'm not sure that it is worth the extra size and weight. On the other hand, compared to the CMI Uplift, RSI Rescue Hauling Pulley, and SRT RM22 Rescuemate, it is positively tiny and nearly weightless. It is lighter and smaller than the USHBA Hogwauler, which I consider to be the closest contender.
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©2008, Gary D. Storrick