Fall-arrest ladder system
A safety-featured ladder, including taut rope wrapped over top of the top rung and under bottom of the bottom rung and fixedly connected to the ladder when downward force is applied to the rope in front of the ladder. In a first embodiment, a sleeve including a pulley subsystem is attached to a body harness worn by a climber and can move or slide along the rope only when climbing up ladder. In a second embodiment, a sleeve including a different pulley subsystem including a centrifugal brake is attached to a body harness worn by a climber and can move or slide along the rope when climbing up or climbing down. However, if the climber loses footing and starts to fall the sleeve grabs the rope, and/or the rope grabs the sleeve, which prevents the climber from falling more than a few inches and from injury. Hooks at top of the ladder can hook around transverse cables atop poles.
1. Apparatus comprising:
a ladder;
a rope connected to and looped around said ladder by being looped over a top rung of said ladder and looped under a bottom rung of said ladder, said looped rope being held immobile relative to said ladder in a taut manner;
a sleeve through which said rope is threaded, said sleeve including an internal mechanism allowing movement of said sleeve alone said rope directed toward said top rung and preventing said movement of said sleeve along said rope directed away from said top rung; and
a safety harness worn by a climber of said ladder, said harness directly connected to said sleeve and not directly connected to said internal-mechanism included in said sleeve.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said climber is prevented from falling more than a few inches from an elevated position.
3. Apparatus, comprising:
a ladder having a pair of side rails and a plurality of rungs fixedly connected to said side rails;
a single looped rope looped around said ladder, by being looped over and touching the top of a top rung of said ladder, and looped under and touching the bottom of a bottom rung of said ladder, said looped rope being held immobile relative to said ladder in a taut manner;
a sleeve through which said rope is threaded, said sleeve including a mechanism allowing movement of said sleeve along said rope directed toward said top rung and preventing said movement of said sleeve along said rope directed away from said top rung; and
a safety harness worn by a climber of said ladder, said harness directly connected to said sleeve and not directly connected to said mechanism included in said sleeve;
whereby said climber is not prevented by said sleeve from climbing said ladder in the direction of said top rung while a fall from said ladder by said climber is arrested by cooperation of said harness, said sleeve, said direct connection, said rope and said ladder.
4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said sleeve further comprises:
an over-ride control operable by said climber for over-riding said mechanism to the extent of over-riding said preventing said movement of said sleeve along said rope directed away from said top rung, whereby said sleeve freely moves in the direction away from said top rung under climber control.
5. The apparatus of claim 3 or claim 1 wherein said sleeve includes all of said mechanism internal to said sleeve.
6. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising:
a pair of rope guides, one attached to the top of the top rune of said ladder and the other attached to the bottom of the bottom rung of said ladder to hold said rope generally parallel to said side rails of said ladder.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said rope guides hold said rope at respective midpoints of said rungs.
8. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising:
a rope brake device fixedly attached to one end of said rope; said rope being held between a pair of rope guides in a manner to create said single looped rope encompassing all rungs of said ladder and thereafter being inserted through said rope brake device to an extent necessary to enable said rope brake device to firmly hold said rope at a fixed position on said rope ensuring that said single loop is taut.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said rope brake device is positioned on said rope on a rear side of said ladder opposite from a front side of said ladder upon which said climber climbs.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said sleeve is positioned on said rope on a front side of said ladder upon which said climber climbs.
11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said ladder is an extension ladder.
12. The apparatus of claim 11 for use with an elevated cable strung between vertical poles, said extension ladder further comprising:
a pair of spring-loaded hooks, one of said hooks affixed to the top of one of said side rails of said extension ladder and the other one of said hooks affixed to the top of the other one of said side rails of said ladder;
whereby said hooks on said extension ladder may be caused to engage said elevated cable in a manner to prevent said ladder from falling from said cable.