Front	Rear

Left	Right	Kit Pouch

Technical Details

I acquired this RIT RSS–AL 4 kit from Kimberly A Wallace in 2024..

My RSS–AL 4 descender is 192 mm. tall, 68 mm. wide, 26 mm. thick, and weighs 409 g. The full kit, including the pouch, is 306 mm. tall, 248 mm. wide, 70 mm. thick, and weighs 1130 g.

The RSS–AL 4 descender is designed to work on 11x3 mm. tubular kevlar webbing. My kit included 15 m. with a large hook sewn to one end. The hook had a pull strap with orange reflective tape sewn to it for easy removal from the pouch.

The descender is a closed device with a rear cover plate secured by seven torx-head machine screws. The webbing enters the device at the lower right side, follows a serpentine path (whose upper portion resembles that of a bobbin, and exits at the top of the device. A blue handle on the left side controls the internal mechanism. The webbing path and a strong spring each force the handle outward, so an internal nose on the handle squeezes the webbing against a portion of the device body. The handle must be squeezed to descend. A 37 mm. webbing strap sewn through a 16 mm. hole in the base of the descender provides a rigging attachment point.

The front of the body is printed with "MEETS NFPA 1983 (12ED) E," "Use with 27.0mm [sic] Kevlar Webbing only," "SQUEEZE LEVER TO DESCEND," "RELEASE TO STOP," "RSS-AL 4," "R I T SAFETY SOLUTIONS LLC," "800–254–2990," the U.L. Classified icon, a reading-is-dangerous icon, a hand-holding-a-rope illustration, and "PAT. PENDING." Both sides of the hook have "RIT" milled in large letters. One side of the hook is printed with the U.L. Classified icon, "MEETS NFPA 1983 (2012 EDITION)," '"E"', "MbS:23 [illegible - worn]," and "RIT Safety Solu[illegible - worn]."

Comments

This descender is designed for and supplied with kevlar tubular webbing. Kevlar's fire resistance is desirable for its intended application, but the very low stretch of kevlar and the low abrasion resistance of tubular webbing are not desirable for caving or climbing applications. Similarly, the closed design of the descender is undesirable for muddy cave environments. I suggest that cavers and climbers leave this device for those it was intended for.

History

Omar P. Jordan founded RIT (Rapid Intervention Technology) Safety Solutions in 1998. Originally providing safety equipment for Firefighters and first responders, they now serves a variety of safety and rescue markets including fire, industrial (telecommunications and wind energy), military, and more. RIT products are manufactured in the U.S.A.

Omar Jordan filed U. S. Patent Application #2009/045010 A1 for the descender on February 19, 2009 following a provisional application filed in August 2007.