Importance

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Abstract

An aerial tramway grip assembly (21) including a gripping head (24) carrying a pair of opposed movable jaws (26, 27) for gripping a haul rope (23) and a resilient biasing assembly (37) biasing the jaws (26, 27) towards a closed position. The improvement in the grip assembly (21) is comprised of two pairs of opposed stationary gripping surfaces (41,42,43,44) positioned proximate the jaws (26,27) and positioned to cooperate with an opposed one of the jaws (26,27) to grip the haul rope (23) therebetween in the event of release of the gripping force provided by the other jaw. Additionally, resilient biasing is provided by two independent rubber blocks or cylinders (38,39) which bias each jaw (26,27) toward an opposed jaw and toward the opposed stationary gripping surface (41-44). The stationary gripping surfaces (41-44) additionally are oriented to be gravity biased into wedging engagement with the haul rope (23) so as to grip the haul rope (23) even in the event of failure of the movable jaws (26,27). The grip assembly (21) also includes jaw actuating levers (53,54) coupled to the movable jaws (26,27) and formed to move the jaws to an open position against the resilient biasing by the rubber cylinders (2,8,39).

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First Claim