Ladder climber's safety device

Claim 1

A ladder climber's safety device for use with stationary ladders of the type having side rails of rectangular cross-sectional configuration comprising, in combination, a pair of sliding lock handle members, a top-to-bottom through opening in each of said sliding lock handle members for the sliding reception therein of one each of the side rails of the stationary ladder, manual grip means extending laterally outwardly of each of said sliding lock handle members, a cable loosely interconnecting said sliding lock handle members and permitting independent relative sliding movement of said sliding lock handle members along their respective ladder rails, said sliding lock handle members each comprising means for frictionally gripping their respective ladder rails to prevent downward sliding movement therealong when said sliding lock handle members are rotated downwardly with respect to their ladder rails towards the front of the ladder for preventing free downward movement thereof, means controlled by the manual rotation of said sliding lock handle members in the opposite direction with respect to their ladder rails to release said gripping action and permit free upward movement of said sliding lock handle members along their respective rails as controlled by the climber in climbing or descending the ladder, said manual gripping means extending forewardly with respect to the ladder rails along which they are slidingly disposed, said sliding lock handle member gripping means comprising toothed rail grip members fixed with respect to front and back wall portions, respectively, of said top-to-bottom through opening, near lower and upper end portions thereof, respectively, the width of said top-to-bottom through opening being somewhat greater than the width of the front to back width of the associated ladder to permit said rotative rocking motion of said sliding lock handle member with respect thereto, said gripping action release means comprising a pair of roller wheels journalled within said top-to-bottom through opening for protrusion therewithin beyond surfaces defined by said front and back wall portions, respectively, of said top-to-bottom through opening, near upper and lower end portions thereof, respectively, said lower roller wheel being so disposed and of such size as to preclude its contact with the associated ladder rail when the sliding lock handle member is frictionally gripping the rail, said upper roller wheel being journalled at the upper end of an elongated carrier member the lower end of which is pivotally journalled within said top-to-bottom through opening, and means resiliently urging said roller wheel carrier member in the inward direction with respect to said top-to-bottom through opening for yieldingly urging said sliding lock handle members in said downwardly rotated positions.