Front	Rear	Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired this descender from J. E. Weinel, Inc in 2001. I acquired another in 2017 as part of Bob Thrun’s collection.

My Scissors is 240 mm. tall, 35 mm. wide, 9 mm. thick, and weighs 368 g.

The Scissors is made from two pieces of strip steel, hinged together with a steel rivet. The fixed piece is 240 mm. long, 35 mm. wide and 4.2 mm. thick. It has a 14 mm. hole centered 17 mm. from the top, two 54 mm. by 13 mm. slots at 70 to 134 mm. and 146 to 200 mm., respectively, and a 17.3 mm. clip-in hole 16 mm. centered from the bottom. The back side of each of the slots and holes is rounded. The top 25 mm. is bent forward about 2 mm. at the top. There is a 4 mm. rivet hole 41 mm. from the top and 10.5 mm. from the left side.

The swinging piece is made from a 210 mm. length of 38 mm. by 5 mm. steel strip. It is cut in an irregular shape with two projections that form "brake bars" over the slots in the fixed piece. A 17.3 mm. clip-in hole aligns with the similar hole in the fixed piece.

There are no markings on the device. The sales sticker attached to the Scissors says "Спусковое устр "Ножницы."

Comments

The rappeller rigs the Scissors by opening the Scissors, slipping a bight from back to front through one or each of the slots in the fixed piece, then closing the swinging piece, and securing it by clipping through the basal holes. Note that the rivet takes very little load, if any, while the device is in use.

There may be too much friction to use both slots with some ropes. Unfortunately, there is no convenient way to change the number of slots in use while on rappel.

This is a clever design. Although the Scissors is heavy, it is compact and easily fits into a cave pack. I would like to see a lightweight titanium version, just for kicks.