Patents by Inventor Alain Maurice

Alain Maurice has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8402616
    Abstract: A carabiner equipped with a swivelling gate formed by a rigid metal wire of smaller diameter than that of the body. The wire is provided with a protuberance at one of the ends to form a male latching element and an articulation loop at the opposite end for passage of the swivel-pin. A flexible return device for returning the gate to the closed position comprises a compression spring operating in conjunction with an intermediate transfer stirrup inside a housing of the body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignee: Zedel
    Inventors: Paul Petzl, Pierre Plaze, Alain Maurice
  • Publication number: 20120255144
    Abstract: A magnetic fastening buckle includes a first plug-in element (11) provided with a first permanent magnet (17), and a second receiving element (12) comprising a flat support plate (19) surmounted by a support cap (20) for a second permanent magnet (23). The body (13) of the first plug-in element (11) moreover comprises one pair of guiding pins (30) protruding on both sides of the first housing opening (18) of the first permanent magnet (17), both guiding pins (30) being parallel to the longitudinal axis XY of the buckle. The whole ensures a self-centering effect of the first plug-in element (11) in said longitudinal direction XY.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 6, 2012
    Publication date: October 11, 2012
    Applicant: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Antonin GAUDILLERE, Alain MAURICE
  • Patent number: 8226138
    Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus for securing rescue operations by helihoisting that comprises three attachments to the helicopter, the lifeguard and the belay tether. A trigger control mechanism includes a mobile pawl pivotally mounted on the hook between a closing position and a release position of the opening, respectively for maintaining the tether in the hook and for releasing the same, and a latch submitted to the action of a polarisation spring for locking the pawl in the closed position in the absence of a tension on the first attachment, and for unlocking the pawl when the force applied on the first attachment exceeds that of the polarisation spring. The assembly is arranged for triggering the automatic release of the belay tether that remained attached when the tensioning by the helicopter traction cable exceeds a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: Zedel
    Inventors: Jean-Louis Rocourt, Alain Maurice, Paul Petzl
  • Patent number: 8225905
    Abstract: An ascender device for belaying on a fixed rope, comprising a body with a trough, and an actuating lever having a pivot, a cam for clamping the rope, and a hole for attaching a safety means. A connecting arm with a button-hole is articulated between the pivot and body to move the actuating lever between an inactive position facilitating insertion of the rope in the trough and an active position wherein the ends of the pivot are housed in aligned recesses acting as bearings. A double lock comprises a first lock and a second lock to secure the two opposite ends of the pivot in the recesses, each lock being associated with an unlocking tab for releasing same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: Zedel
    Inventors: Arnaud Delaittre, Alain Maurice, Paul Petzl
  • Patent number: 8100231
    Abstract: A self-locking comprising a pulley in the form of a rotary cam, a brake shoe, and an actuating handle of a mechanism with an interruptible mechanical link between the pulley and handle after an intermediate position has been passed causing disengagement of the pulley and automatic return of the cam to a locking position. The mechanism comprises a selector with a pushbutton coupled with an operating means designed to occupy an active position or an inactive position to respectively disable or enable said disengagement of the pulley.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: Zedel
    Inventors: Paul Petzl, Alain Maurice, Pierre Olivier Chabod
  • Publication number: 20110315480
    Abstract: An ascender/descender appliance for ascending and descending on a rope, comprising a body having attachment means to be connected to the user's harness and a clamping device able to be released on load. The clamping device is arranged outside the body and comprises a chain of metal links constituted by a succession of friction elements articulated on one another by connecting rods to form a series of gaps for the rope to pass in zigzag manner. Means are associated with the top link to trigger clamping of the ascender device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2011
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Applicant: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Alain MAURICE, Benoît VUILLERMOZ
  • Publication number: 20110289659
    Abstract: A safety helmet comprising an outer shell, an internal headband composed of a neckband at the rear and a securing strap at the front, and an adjustment mechanism of the headband. The adjustment mechanism comprises a double cog-wheel having a first sprocket associated with a first drive rack of the neckband, and a second sprocket associated with a second drive rack of the strap. The two sprockets have different diameters to perform differential driving of the strap and of the neckband.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2011
    Publication date: December 1, 2011
    Applicant: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Raphaël LANEZ, Alain MAURICE
  • Publication number: 20110073417
    Abstract: The invention relates to a self-arresting rope belay device comprising a cam arranged to clamp the rope when the rope is under tension, and a lever arranged to act on the cam to progressively release the rope by manual action on the lever. The lever acts on the cam respectively with a geared-down effect in an initial part of its release travel, and with a direct effect in a final part of its travel. This results in the relative movement of the cam with respect to the lever being smaller in the initial part of the travel than in the final part, which enables accurate adjustment of the braking effort and of the running speed of the rope in the initial part of travel of the lever.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2010
    Publication date: March 31, 2011
    Applicant: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Michael CHAUMONTET, Christophe Quillard, Alain Maurice, Paul Petzl
  • Publication number: 20110042984
    Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus for securing rescue operations by helihoisting that comprises three attachment means to the helicopter, the lifeguard and the belay tether. A trigger control mechanism includes a mobile pawl pivotally mounted on the hook between a closing position and a release position of the opening, respectively for maintaining the tether in the hook and for releasing the same, and a latch submitted to the action of a polarization spring for locking said pawl in the closed position in the absence of a tension on the first attachment means, and for unlocking said pawl when the force applied on the first attachment means exceeds that of the polarization spring. The assembly is arranged for triggering the automatic release of the belay tether that remained attached when the tensioning by the helicopter traction cable exceeds a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2009
    Publication date: February 24, 2011
    Applicant: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Jean-Louis Rocourt, Alain Maurice, Paul Petzl
  • Publication number: 20100200333
    Abstract: An ascender for a fixed rope comprising a metal flange-plate equipped with a trough for housing the rope and with a swivelling trigger designed to block the rope against the inner surface of the trough when the flange-plate is solicited in the downwards direction. The outside surface of the trough comprises an ergonomic grip for the ascender to be totally held in the hand. The grip extends over the whole length of the trough, and the pivot-pin of the trigger is located at an intermediate level between the opposite ends of the grip.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2010
    Publication date: August 12, 2010
    Applicant: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Alain MAURICE, Paul PETZL
  • Publication number: 20100126802
    Abstract: An ascender device for belaying on a fixed rope, comprising a body with a trough, and an actuating lever having a pivot, a cam for clamping the rope, and a hole for attaching a safety means. A connecting arm with a button-hole is articulated between the pivot and body to move the actuating lever between an inactive position facilitating insertion of the rope in the trough and an active position wherein the ends of the pivot are housed in aligned recesses acting as bearings. A double lock comprises a first lock and a second lock to secure the two opposite ends of the pivot in the recesses, each lock being associated with an unlocking tab for releasing same.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2009
    Publication date: May 27, 2010
    Applicant: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Arnaud Delaittre, Alain Maurice, Paul Petzl
  • Publication number: 20100125984
    Abstract: A carabiner equipped with a swivelling gate formed by a rigid metal wire of smaller diameter than that of the body. The wire is provided with a protuberance at one of the ends to form a male latching element and an articulation loop at the opposite end for passage of the swivel-pin. A flexible return device for returning the gate to the closed position comprises a compression spring operating in conjunction with an intermediate transfer stirrup inside a housing of the body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2008
    Publication date: May 27, 2010
    Applicant: Zedel
    Inventors: Paul Petzl, Pierre Plaze, Alain Maurice
  • Publication number: 20090236177
    Abstract: A foot lock ascender for ascending along a rope comprises a swivelling gate and attachment means comprising at least a first passage for a first strap to pass through and to be adjusted, and at least a second passage for a second strap to pass through. The first positioning passage of the first strap is inclined by a predefined angle with respect to the guide throat of the rope, said angle being comprised between 40° and 75° so as to keep the bottom of the throat parallel to the path of the rope when ascending.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2009
    Publication date: September 24, 2009
    Applicant: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Alain Maurice, Paul Petzl
  • Publication number: 20090026023
    Abstract: A self-locking comprising a pulley in the form of a rotary cam, a brake shoe, and an actuating handle of a mechanism with an interruptible mechanical link between the pulley and handle after an intermediate position has been passed causing disengagement of the pulley and automatic return of the cam to a locking position. The mechanism comprises a selector with a pushbutton coupled with an operating means designed to occupy an active position or an inactive position to respectively disable or enable said disengagement of the pulley.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2008
    Publication date: January 29, 2009
    Applicant: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Paul Petzl, Alain Maurice, Pierre Olivier Chabod
  • Publication number: 20090008188
    Abstract: An ascender device for a double rope is composed of two identical ascenders, the flanges of which are reversed by pivoting through 180° with respect to one another along a vertical axis extending parallel to the two troughs. The two grips are symmetrical with respect to the vertical axis so as to be able to be held at the same time by the user's right hand and left hand.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 25, 2008
    Publication date: January 8, 2009
    Applicant: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Alexandre Bronnaz, Alain Maurice, Paul Petzl
  • Patent number: 7226190
    Abstract: A portable lighting lamp 10 comprises an emitting module equipped with at least one light-emitting diode 11 for emitting a light beam, a fixing and connecting element 12 of said diode, and an optical focussing device 15 able to be moved in front of the diode 11 to make the visualization angle of the light beam vary. The optical focussing device 15 is advantageously constituted by one or more Fresnel lenses 16 mounted on a swivelling support 17 or a rotary knob designed to occupy either an inactive position situated outside the light emission field of the diode or an active position wherein said light beam passes through the lens so as to obtain either broad lighting with a short range or narrow lighting with a long range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2007
    Assignee: Zedel
    Inventors: Paul Petzl, Alain Maurice
  • Publication number: 20070097674
    Abstract: A portable lighting lamp 10 comprises an emitting module equipped with at least one light-emitting diode 11 for emitting a light beam, a fixing and connecting element 12 of said diode, and an optical focussing device 15 able to be moved in front of the diode 11 to make the visualization angle of the light beam vary. The optical focussing device 15 is advantageously constituted by one or more Fresnel lenses 16 mounted on a swivelling support 17 or a rotary knob designed to occupy either an inactive position situated outside the light emission field of the diode or an active position wherein said light beam passes through the lens so as to obtain either broad lighting with a short range or narrow lighting with a long range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2006
    Publication date: May 3, 2007
    Applicant: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Paul Petzl, Alain Maurice
  • Patent number: 7192165
    Abstract: A portable lighting lamp comprises an emitting module equipped with at least one light-emitting diode for emitting a light beam, a fixing and connecting element of said diode, and an optical focusing device able to be moved in front of the diode to make the visualization angle of the light beam vary. The optical focusing device is advantageously constituted by one or more Fresnel lenses mounted on a swiveling support or a rotary knob designed to occupy either an inactive position situated outside the light emission field of the diode or an active position wherein said light beam passes through the lens so as to obtain either broad lighting with a short range or narrow lighting with a long range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2007
    Assignee: Zedel
    Inventors: Paul Petzl, Alain Maurice
  • Patent number: 7082647
    Abstract: The body of a snap-hook for carrying accessories is equipped with a guard lug attached to the top part and extending facing the lateral branch opposite the finger so as to define a groove designed to be inserted on a support element, in particular a belt, to achieve immobilization of the snap-hook.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignee: Zedel
    Inventors: Alain Maurice, Paul Petzl, Anne Bauvois
  • Publication number: 20060056175
    Abstract: A portable lighting lamp comprises an emitting module equipped with at least one light-emitting diode for emitting a light beam, a fixing and connecting element of said diode, and an optical focusing device able to be moved in front of the diode to make the visualization angle of the light beam vary. The optical focusing device is advantageously constituted by one or more Fresnel lenses mounted on a swiveling support or a rotary knob designed to occupy either an inactive position situated outside the light emission field of the diode or an active position wherein said light beam passes through the lens so as to obtain either broad lighting with a short range or narrow lighting with a long range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2004
    Publication date: March 16, 2006
    Applicants: ZEDEL
    Inventors: Paul Petzl, Alain Maurice