Radially Compressive Rope Assembly

To address the need for a better fast rope, the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Patuxent River, Maryland developed the Radially Compressive Rope Assembly, which has the potential of revolutionizing rope technology that is used for the descent of personnel from helicopters and other vehicles or structures. For conventional ropes, the level of friction generated between a person and the rope is the basis for controlling rate of descent or providing the ability to climb the rope. For the Radially Compressible Rope Assembly, a tighter grip does not translate into the creation of larger amounts of friction, but rather a greater indent in the rope, providing a greater hand holding block. Prototype compressive ropes have been constructed and tested at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland. Modifications and improvements to this original design are currently in process. Though the compressive rope assembly is moderately more expensive than existing fast ropes, the greatly increased amount of control and more safe operation, will justify its higher cost. The development of various types of rope attachments, fasteners and accessories that take advantage of the compressibility feature, could expand market use into other rope market areas such as tow ropes, safety harnesses and other types of lowering systems. Summary of Benefits Instead of varying the grip to modulate the amount of friction for controlling descent rate of a person, varying grip modulates the amount of compression or indent of the rope. This translates into: Lower injury rates from friction burns; Better control of the speed of descent by a person; Provide a rope system that permits extremely rapid engagement, descent, and disengagement of the user, allowing multiple users to descend in a relatively short period of time; Provide a more sure grip even in wet, snow, sea, oily or other adverse conditions, and; Provide a method to modify the rope assembly’s weight to ccommodate the various wind conditions at rope deployment locations - thereby enabling the rope to hang vertically without motion - thus providing additional safety to roping operations.