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Technical Details

I acquired my MSA Dynescape 506416 from S&E Industrial Supply Co. Inc. in 2017.

My MSA Dynescape 506416 is 326 mm. tall, 117 mm. wide, 63 mm. thick, and weighs 1350 g. I cannot do much better than repeat the following description from in the manual:

The Dynescape descender assembly consists of a central sheave protected by an aluminum housing; two internal spring-loaded pawls; two rope roller guides; a moving cam; a handle; an external rope guide; and a length of 1/2 inch (13 mm) three strand twisted polyester rope with one free end (spliced so the rope may not be removed from the descender) and one metal teardrop thimble end.

My Dynescape 506416 also came with two carabiners.

There are no markings on the descender, but it is covered with several stickers that are too wordy to justify reproducing here. The carabiners are ISC autolocking D carabiners stamped "ISC UK KH 205" on one side and "ANSI Z359-1PL 16kN 98C" on the other. The rope has a two-page tag attached to the eye splice that gives two rigging illustrations.

The hook has a number of stampings, including several warnings and also some references to U.S. Patents #4,434,536 and #4,528,728 for snap hooks used on the rope.

Comments

This Dynescape is designed for industrial rescue applications. I will leave comments on its suitability for that application to those who specialize in interfering with natural selection, but I think that I know what many of them will think.

Reading the manual, I get the impression that the descender and manual might have been designed by corporate liability attorneys. One instruction is particularly onerous: "Return to manufacturer for inspection after each use." This alone is sufficient reason to avoid this device, as it makes it completely impractical to train people on its use. Imagine trying to run a class and having to have a new kit for each practice attempt! This is absurd.

For other uses:

• This Dynescape is simply too heavy for recreational use.
• Rigging and derigging are not only inconvenient, but actually forbidden by the instructions.
• The device is not only not designed for normal caving or climbing ropes, but using any rope other than the one provided is forbidden - and that rope is
  • oversize for our application,
  • twisted rather than kernmantle, and
  • polyester rather than nylon.
  I'm the umpire for this site, and I rule three strikes, the rope is out.
  

…and with three outs, the inning is over.

The lawyers deserve a Lemon Award for this one.