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| Front View: Open for Rigging | Rear View: Open for Rigging |
I acquired this Banana from Inner Mountain Outfitters in 2004.
My Kong Banana is 193 mm. tall, 55 mm. wide, 30 mm. thick, and weighs 233 g.
The two side plates are made of 3.1 mm. aluminum. The side plates arc curved into a banana shape; hence the name for the device. The lower ends of the side plates are bent to converge at the attachment point, which consists of a 13.3 mm. wide oval hole in each side plate. An 8.2 mm. post is attached to the top of the fixed side plate, and two 41.2 mm. bollards are attached below. The front side plate pivots on the lower bollard bolt to allow threading the rope. The bollards are turned aluminum with two projecting ears each to keep them from rotating on the fixed side plate. The bollards are drilled and tapped then bolted to the fixed side plate with 7 mm. bolts. Shoulder nuts lock the bollards in place and also retain the pivoting side plate. The pivoting side plate has a slot to allow clearing the upper nut and a second slot to engage the post. Both bollards have U-shaped grooves with about a 7 mm. radius. The bollards are not centered on the side plates. The upper one is offset about 7.5 mm. and the lower about 2.5 mm. The stamped steel gate safety is spring-loaded and riveted to the swinging side plate.
The front plate is printed with the Kong logo, "ITALY," "BANANA," "rope ø 8-12mm," a figure showing how to rig the device, an arrow pointing down, "Load 30-150 kg," "04010 03," and, of course, the Reading is Dangerous icon.
Since both bollards have U-shaped grooves, the Banana tends to be faster than the Petzl bobbins. The banana shape doesn't seem to have any real advantage, since the upper post does not come into play in normal use. The bend is not enough to keep the rope running around the upper bollard from rubbing the standing line, but this is not a problem in any case. As far as I'm concerned, the bend just makes the Banana larger than it needs to be.
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