Chain retaining device

Claim 1

A chain securing device, comprising: a block having front and back faces and an opening through which a chain may be freely passed, said block having anchoring means in open communication with said opening in which a chain may be secured at any desired link in the chain, said anchoring means comprising first, second and third interconnected slot portions for accommodating adjacent links in a chain, and means at one end of the block for receiving a ring or hook for suspending the block, said first slot portion being wider than the width of a link to be accommodated therein and extending inwardly from the said back face, said third slot portion being wider than the width of a link to be accommodated therein and being located at the other end of said block and opening into said front face, said second slot portion lying contiguous with and located between the first and third slot portions and being narrower than the width but wider than the thickness of a link to be accommodated therein, the bottom wall of said first and third slot portions lying in planes substantially normal to one another, the bottom wall of the first slot portion defining shoulders at the contiguity between the bottom wall of the first and second slot portions whereby to transmit any load from a chain link accommodated in the first slot portion onto the block when the portion of the chain depending from a link accommodated in the second slot portion is in tension, and a pair of opposed projections rigid with the block upstanding from said shoulders and extending toward said one end of the block and lying along said front face, said projections being spaced apart a distance greater than the thickness but less than the width of a link to be accommodated therebetween and forming at least a portion of said second slot portion, said projections providing retaining means for engaging a link accommodated in the first slot portion and thereby restraining chain displacement off the anchoring means.