Front View	Rear View	Top View

Front View: Open for Rigging	Rear View: Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired this device from Dirk-Jan Swier in 2005.

The Grip Rescue consists of three pot-metal castings held between two stamped steel plates, plus some minor pieces. The front plate and cam casting pivot on a 6 mm. steel pin near the right side of the device. The pin extends through the rear plate to form an axle for a coil spring. One end of the spring fits into a slot in the back of the cam casting, the other has a loop that allow it to fit over one of two round-head pins projecting from the rear plate. When on the top pin, the spring acts to close the cam; on the bottom, it acts to open it slightly.

The cam casting is diamond-shaped, with flat faces where it runs against the rope. The cam presses the rope against a flat face on an anvil casting pinned to the bottom left of the rear plate. These pins extend above the castings to 12 mm. diameter heads, leaving gaps to be engaged by a slot cut in the front plate. The remaining casting is a lever near the top of the rear plate. A spring rotates the lever counter-clockwise, where a portion of the rear plate bent in from the attachment point stops further lever rotation.

The front and rear plates each have reinforcing ribs and an up-pointing arrow stamped in them. The front plate has numerous stampings, included a braided rope symbol; "UP, "HAUT," "AUF" and "ALTO" near the up-pointing arrow; "USE ONLY ROPE," "UTILISER SEULEMENT CORDE," "GEBRAUCHEN NUR SEIL," and "USARE SOLO CORDA" to the left of a large "} ø12," "TEUFELBERGER," "CE 0639," PATENT PENDING," and "GRIP RESCUE." The rear plate is stamped with "EN-353-2" and "0198."

Comments

I don't know what to think. If I rig the device as illustrated in the information sheet and drop it, it will slide freely down the rope unless the rear spring is on the top pin - and nothing on the device tells one to do this. If the spring is on the lower pin, where one might put it to help rig the device, then the device may not engage during a fall. In industrial environments, this failure to "idiot-proof" the device creates an unnecessary hazard.

The separate lever is a mystery. The information sheet states that the "Grip Rescue is a fall arresting system, which in the case of a fall can be used through the flick of a lever" [bold face appears in the original]. There is only one hole that the lever fits into. When inserted, it can move the cam (a cylinder on the lever presses against a cylinder on the back of the device), but only if there is no rope within the device. With a rope in place, the cylinders cannot come close, let alone meet. This lever is ineffective on this device. I don't know if this is poor design or if I just have mismatched parts. The idea looks like it could work if the parts matched - but they don't. For this reason, I cannot recommend using the Grip Rescue that I own.

The SSE Stop & Go is a similar device that has a lever design that works.