Climbing cam placement indicator
A climbing cam having opposed cam members has visible indicia marked thereon corresponding to cam placement quality. The indicia are visible to the climber when the cam is placed in a rock and allows the climber to assess the quality of cam placement.
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This invention relates to climbing aids of the type commonly known as cams, and more specifically to visible indicia on a cam that allows a climber to quickly assess placement quality and size selection.
BACKGROUNDRock climbers use various types of equipment as protection against falls. Much climbing equipment may generally be classified as being either active devices or passive devices. Passive devices typically do not include any mechanical or moving parts that assist in attachment of the device to the rock, and instead rely upon friction and gravitational forces to achieve anchoring. One type of passive protection is a climbing nut, which may also be referred to as a chock. Active devices on the other hand generally include some kind of mechanical parts that assist in anchoring the protection on the rock wall. A cam is an example of active protection.
Climbing cams are well known in the art. There are many different kinds of cams on the market, and many different mechanisms to operate them. Nonetheless, to provide some general background information, a climbing cam typically includes one or more pairs of opposed cam members that typically have eccentric outer surfaces. The cam members are pivotally mounted one or more transverse shafts in a way that allows opposed cams to pivot in opposite directions. The cams are spring-loaded and are activated with a handle. When the handle is pulled, the cams rotate from their open, extended position toward a closed or compressed position. The compressed cam is then inserted into a crack in a rock, and the handle is released. When the handle is released the cam members rotate under the force of the springs back toward their open position until the opposed cams contact the rock. Assuming that the correct sized cam has been chosen for the crack in question, the cam members engage opposite sides of the crack to provide a frictional engagement with the rock, thereby providing an anchoring point. The cam typically includes a loop or sling of cable attached to it. A carabiner is typically attached to the cable and a loop of webbing is attached to the carabiner. Another carabiner is then connected to the opposite end of the webbing and the rope is passed through the second carabiner. This system allows the rope to move freely through the carabiners without unduly moving the cam and risking it's coming loose. Outwardly directed loads applied to the cam—as when a climber's fall is arrested—causes the cam members jam against the rock.
Cams are available in numerous sizes, ranging from very large units having a safe operating range of up to 4 inches or more, to very small units that have a safe operating range of less than ½ inch. The safe operating range of a cam, however, is somewhat less than the actual maximum range of the device. The particular cam selected by the climber depends on several factors, including for example the topography of the crack into which the cam will be inserted, and the width of the crack. Selection of the correct sized cam and proper placement of the cam is obviously very important since improper sizing and placement can lead to failure of the protection when it is most needed.
During a climb the climber must make an assessment of the suitability a cam by visually judging the width of a crack, and by considering other nuances of the crack. But for a variety of reasons, it is often difficult to make a good visual assessment of the rock. Moreover, it is often difficult to visually verify the quality of the cam placement, and hence determine the suitability of the chosen cam.
There is a need therefore for devices that improve a climber's ability to assess which size cam is most suitable in any particular situation.
The present invention is a visual aid that is usable in connection with any style of climbing cam and which assists the climber with assessing cam placement quality. Visible indicia on the cam members provide a readily verifiable method for the climber to determine whether a particular cam is of the correct size to be used in a crack.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe invention will be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will be apparent by reference to the following detailed description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the following drawings.
A climbing aid comprising a cam device 10 incorporating a preferred embodiment of a visual placement indicator according to the present invention, referred to generally with reference number 12, is shown all of the figures. As noted previously, there are numerous types of climbing cams on the market. For purposes herein it should be understood that the cam device 10 shown in the drawings is but one example of the many different cam designs. The invention described and claimed herein is not limited to use with a cam such as the one shown in the drawings. Instead, the specific cam design shown in the drawings is used to explain the placement indicator.
The basic structural components of cam device 10 will now be described by way of background before the placement indicator 12 is detailed.
Referring to
The cam device 10 includes springs spirally wound about the rod and having one end attached to the rod and the opposite ends attached to a cam—typically there is one spring for each cam. Although not shown in the figures, the springs urge the cams into the position shown in
Each cam 14, 16, 18 and 20 is independently pivotal on the mounting rod. However, the two outermost cams 14 and 20 move generally in unison when activation bar 32 is moved, and the two innermost cams 16 and 18 likewise move in unison. With reference to
A spreader bar 46 is typically attached to the upright arms 22, 24 to maintain the U shape in U-shaped member 26. A sling 49, preferably fabricated from webbing material, is attached to the U-shaped member 26 at the apex of the U.
The foregoing describes cam device 10 in a general manner. The operation of cam device 10 will now be described with reference to various figures.
When a climber encounters a crack in which a cam is appropriate for use as protection, the climber assesses the size and the geometry of the crack and then selects a cam device of a size that appears to be correct for the crack. As noted previously, cam devices such as device 10 are available in numerous sizes and ranges—there is an element of skill and experience relied upon in making a cam selection. Having selected a cam device 10 of appropriate size, the climber moves activation bar 32 in the direction of arrow A (
If the cam device 10 was of the correct size for the crack in the rock, the cam will seat securely in the crack with opposed cam members urged against the rock. The climber then secures a rope through a carabiner and/or other aids.
When a cam is correctly positioned, outwardly directed load (as occurs when a fall is arrested by the climbing rope) causes the cams 10 to be urged with substantial force against the rock surfaces 48 and 50.
Correct positioning and placement of cam device 10 in the rock crack is important to adequate holding strength. However, the manner and location at which the outer cam surfaces 28 contact the rock surfaces 48 and 50 are not always intuitive to the climber, and visual verification of the placement is not always easy to accomplish. For example, poor lighting conditions, adverse weather, occluded cracks, etc., can make it difficult for the climber to visually verify that the cam is placed adequately. Under many conditions, visual checks to see the actual points of contact between the cam surfaces 28 and the rock surfaces can be difficult. Furthermore, the usable and safe range for a cam device 10 is less than the maximum range of the device. As such, even though a cam may fit into a given crack, the device may have an inadequate range for that particularly crack, making the placement unsafe. This situation is detailed below with reference to
With continued reference to
In one preferred embodiment placement indicator 12 uses a color-coded zone system to indicate placement quality. In this embodiment the colors of the different zones preferably correlate to the quality of the cam placement. Referring to
The plural dots that comprise indicia 66 in zones 60, 62 and 64 define a color code system that is widely accepted as indicative of a status condition. Thus, with respect to zone 60, indicia 66 are colored red. In the example shown in
From the foregoing description it will be readily apparent that the color-coded zone system described above provides climbers with a system for easy visual assessment of the quality of cam placement. It will also be apparent that other visible indicia may be relied upon to provide the visual placement guide. For example, and with reference to
While the present invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill that the spirit and scope of the invention is not limited to those embodiments, but extend to the various modifications and equivalents as defined in the appended claims.
Claims
1. A placement indicator for use with a climbing cam having opposed cam members, comprising:
- visible placement indicia placed on each of said opposed cam members, wherein said visible placement indicia correlates to the quality of cam placement in a rock.
2. (canceled)
3. The placement indicator according to claim 1 wherein each cam defines a rock-contacting surface and a side surface, and wherein the visible indicia are placed on the side surface.
4. The placement indicator according to claim 3 wherein the visible indicia further comprises a color-coded marking in which the color of the indicia correlates to the quality of cam placement in the rock.
5. The placement indicator according to claim 3 wherein the visible indicia further comprises a graduated scale marking in which the scale graduations of the indicia correlate to the quality of cam placement in the rock.
6. The placement indicator according to claim 3 wherein the visible indicia further comprises a color-coded and graduated scale marking in which the markings correlate to the quality of cam placement in the rock.
7. The placement indicator according to claim 4 wherein the color-coded markings further comprise a red zone, and yellow zone and a green zone.
8. The placement indicator according to claim 7 wherein each colored zone correlates to a predetermined portion of the rock-contacting surface.
9. In a climbing cam having at least one pair of opposing arcuate cam members configured for contacting rock surfaces in a crack in a rock, the improvement comprising:
- indicia on each of said cam members capable of indicating cam placement quality.
10. The climbing cam according to claim 9 wherein the opposing arcuate cam members are pivotally movable between a fully open position in which the cam members contact rock surfaces and a fully closed position in which the cam members contact rock surfaces, and wherein the indicia on each of said cam members defines a graduated placement quality scale extending from the fully open position to the fully closed position.
11. The climbing cam according to claim 9 wherein the indicia further comprises color-coded indicia in which the color of the indicia correlates to the quality of cam placement in the crack.
12. The climbing cam according to claim 11 wherein the color-coded markings further comprise a red zone, and yellow zone and a green zone.
13. The climbing cam according to claim 12 wherein each colored zone correlates to a predetermined portion of a rock-contacting surface of the cam members.
14. A visual placement indicator for a climbing cam of the type having opposed cams, comprising:
- indicia means on said cams for providing a visual assessment of the quality of cam placement.
15. The visual placement indicator according to claim 14 wherein the indicia means further comprises color coding means for providing a visual indication of the quality of cam placement.
16. The visual placement indicator according to claim 14 wherein the indicia means further comprises a graduated scale for providing a visual indication of the quality of cam placement.
17. The visual placement indicator according to claim 14 wherein the indicia means further comprises a color-coded graduated scale for providing a visual indication of the quality of cam placement.
18. The visual placement indicator according to claim 15 in which the color coding means comprises plural color coded zones including a red zone, a yellow zone and a green zone.
19. The visual placement indicator according to claim 18 in which each cam defines a rock-contacting surface, and wherein each colored zone correlates to a predetermined portion of the rock-contacting surface.
20. The visual placement indicator according to claim 19 wherein each cam further defines a cam side surface and wherein the colored zones are marked on the cam side surface.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 30, 2004
Publication Date: Oct 6, 2005
Applicant:
Inventor: Douglas Phillips (Camp Sherman, OR)
Application Number: 10/814,378