Front View: Closed	Rear View: Closed
Front View: Open for Rigging	Rear View: Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired my Spent Universální from Ondřej Belica in 2013.

My Spent Universální is right-handed. The ascender is 109 mm. tall, 77 mm. wide, 26 mm. thick, and weighs 153 g. The ascender shell is subtriangular gold anodized shape bent from 3.9 mm. aluminum sheet. The rope channel is formed by bending the left side of the ascender into a U. The rope channel is 15 mm. wide. The main sling attachment point is a beveled 18.5 mm. hole located below the cam near the rope channel. A second attachment point consists of a beveled 16.5 mm. holes beside the rope channel U and just above the cam. The right end of the shell is bent on an inclined axis to form another U. A hole drilled through both sides of the U accepts a semi-tubular rivet. The cam and cam spring are mounted on this rivet. The pivot is centered 48 mm. from the inside of the rope groove. A second hole holds a 4.9 mm. pin above the cam. This pin serves as a cam stop.

The cam is milled from plate aluminum alloy and then anodized. The cam radius, measured from the pivot, increases from 39 to 51 mm. over an angle of 41°, giving a 22° cam angle. The tooth pattern is (3.2)^5. Each tooth is a hardened steel pin, sharpened and pressed into a hole drilled in the cam face. A spring-loaded manual safety bar is mounted in a slot on the bottom of the cam with a solid pin. The normal action of the spring holds the safety against the cam. When the cam is opened, the shell interferes with the safety bar, thus preventing opening the cam. If the safety bar is moved away from the cam (opposing the spring), it will clear the shell and the cam will open. At full open the safety can be released and the spring will hold the safety against the back of the shell. A knurled rod mounted on the safety bar assists in operating the safety mechanism.

The front of the rope channel is stamped with the Spent logo and "Czech." The inside of the shell is stamped "16 KN." The rear is stamped "00410296K."

Comments

Ondřej sent me the following information:

Spent univerzalní (universal Spent)

Used to be produced by company "Spent - záchranná, transportni a kotevni technika" (Spent rescue, evacuation and anchoring equipment).

At the beginning, the producer Vitek Novak was making some vertical devices at home just for himself and some friends around him. After the revolution in 1989, he founded the company Spent to produce it for sale. He started to produce pulleys (not so well done because while loaded the sideboards were collapsing, so they would brake the wheel of the pulley). He was making tripods, ascenders, descenders (similar to Stop Petzl, the funny thing is that the rubber holder was from bike handlebar). In some points he tried to copy Petzl, but to avoid breaching the patent, he modified the design.

The biggest problem with Spent was that the company was limited with machinery, so he wasn't able to realize some of his plans and ideas. Spent ceased to exist after 2001. See the technique used for making the teeth in the cam. The way of producing them is very interesting.

The teeth are unique. They make a very robust design, but I imagine that they were not a particularly economical option for manufacture. On the other hand, this design could be used for short runs in a well-equiped home shop.