A fixture for suspending banners, signs and the like on the sides of multistory buildings, includes a U-shaped bracket adapted to engage the sides and end of a vertical parapet or a horizontal overhang. The fixture supports a powered winch over which cables connected to the banner or the like are arranged so as to allow the raising and lowering of the banner by powering the winch. Clamps on the U-shaped brackets securely retain the fixture in position on the building.

A recovery device particularly useful in confined space and remote rescues. The recovery device includes a base plate, a winch coupled to the base plate, and an anchoring plate coupled to the base plate to detachably couple the base plate to an object that will support the recovery. A cord is attached to the winch to raise or lower the load to or from the recovery device or object. A guide roller assembly is coupled to the base plate to guide the cord and reduce the amount of friction on the cord that occurs when raising a load with the winch.

A device, easily assembled and disassembled for portability, for hoisting and skinning large game in the wilderness. A pair of upright members extend upward from base members, and a cross beam joins upper ends of the upright members to form a rigid frame. A winch mounted on an upright member includes a barrel sufficiently wide to accommodate two cables in side-by side relation and a handle for rotating the barrel. A first cable extends from the barrel of the winch through a dual-sheaved pulley suspended from the cross beam proximal to the winch and thence through a second pulley suspended from the cross beam distal to the winch. A second cable extends from the barrel of the winch through the dual-sheaved pulley. With the hind legs of a carcass attached to the cables, rotating the handle hoists the carcass and tensions apart the hind legs to facilitate skinning. In an alternative embodiment, the frame comprises three upright members pivotally attached to a cross beam and capable of being positioned on a ground surface in tripod configuration. In both embodiments, provision is made for varying the length of at least one upright member to adjust the hoist to sloping or uneven ground.

Apparatus and methods for preventing overlap of coils on a cable of a rotatable winch drum have a rotatable roller which is mounted at a certain location with respect to the axis of rotation of the winch drum. The rotatable roller has an outer surface which is engageable with a side surface of the incoming coil of the cable as the incoming coil is being formed. The rotatable roller exerts a sufficient force through the roller and the body of the cable at the incoming coil to maintain the roller engaged portion of the incoming coil at the location of the rotatable roller and to shift all previously formed engaging adjacent coils of the cable sufficiently longitudinally on the surface of the winch drum in a direction along the axis of rotation of the winch drum so as to make room for the formation of the incoming coil directly on the surface of the winch drum. Forming the incoming coil directly on the surface of the winch drum in this way eliminates any crossing or overlapping of the incoming coil on the previously formed adjacent coils.

A powered rope ascender that supports a person or a load while ascending a vertical rope. The rope ascender has a motor driven capstan drum that engages the rope. A pinch roller grips the rope against the capstan drum. A load limiting assembly releases the grip by the pinch roller when the load supported by the ascender exceeds a predetermined amount. A centrifugal clutch reduces starting torque required by the motor and the outer drum of the centrifugal clutch interacts with a brake to hold position on the rope. For heavy loads a motion activated brake is used. Hand controls provide a freewheeling, a braking and an ascending mode of operation. A harmonic drive or planetary reduction gears provide speed reduction from the motor to the capstan drum. The powered rope ascender can be threaded on the rope without access to a rope end.