Logging carriage

Claim 1

A carriage for elevated travel along a length of supporting cable, said carriage operable in conjunction with remote powered means to transport a carriage suspended load from an on-loading point to an off-loading point, said carriage comprising in combination, a main carriage body, rotatable sheaves on said carriage body for entrainment on said supporting cable, a clamp assembly on said carriage body including cable clamping members connected by actuating links to pneumatic cylinders and operable to temporarily immobilize the carriage body on the supporting cable, a carriage electrical system including a radio receiver with switch means actuable upon reception of certain radio frequencies, solenoid valves in circuit with said switch means and operable to control said clamp assembly and a brake means, a drum assembly including a drum shaft carried by said carriage body, said drum assembly including, a rotatable drum structure, a first sheave area on said drum structure about which an in-haul cable is wound, said in-haul cable having its remote end spooled about a powered drum on said remote powered means, a second sheave area on said drum structure about which a load attachable drop line is wound, a spring case with multiple springs, said case coupled to said drum structure and operable to rotate the latter to pay out the drum carried drop line for load attachment purposes while simultaneously retrieving said in-haul line, said drum structure rotatable by the in-haul line powered by the remote powered means during the retrieval of the load attached drop line during a side-haul pulling of the load to carriage proximity, said in-haul cable thereafter operable to retrieve the load supporting carriage to the powered means for off-loading purposes, and said brake means operable intermediate the carriage main body and the drum structure to selectively brake said drum structure against rotation during carriage travel.