현재 우리가 가장 널리 애용하는 SLCD 즉 프렌드와 너트의 발전사를 서술한 아주 희귀한 자료와 사진을 실고 있다.
레이자딘이 1974년 발명했다는 프렌드는 사실 그 한참 오래전 러시아의"아바로코프' - 우리가 즐겨쓰는 빙벽에서 스쿠류로 구멍을 만든후 그 구멍에 슬링을 끼워 사용하는 방법- "아바로코프" 창시자가 바로 SLCD의 최초의 발명가이다니 놀랍지 않는가 ? 이글은 우리에게 알려지지 않은 장비 발전사의 숨은 이야기와 사진을 제공하고 있다.
Nuts' Story: ClockworkFriends |
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프랑스 항공과학 기업에 있는 엔지니어 인, 진 코우지는 그가 1958년에 르네 드메종과 함께 시도한 치마 오스트 디 라바레도 북벽 등반에서 두랄루민으로, 만든 그의 잭을 고안 제작하여 사용했다.
인공적으로 만들어 진 쐐기(촉스톤)은 빌레이보다는 인공등반용으로 더 사용되었으며 1972년 프랑스의 로프제조사인 조아니에 의해 2가지 사이즈를 가진 비세록 이라는 장비로 절찬리에 판매되었다. "Their equipment includes a bizarre apparatus for wide cracks, workable with an impressive adjustable spanner". This was recorded by Georges Livanos in Au-delà de la Verticale (Beyond the Vertical), telling us of his meeting in 1949 with the Couzy-Schatz team on an attempt of the coveted west face of The Drus. What if the first mechanical artificial chockstone was French? In those dark times the alpinist held little respect for his playground, using aggressive instruments such as pitons. Back in the thirties and forties, the period of "the three last great problems", "make or break" was the only philosophy, while modern tools would have allowed one to succeed with little damage to the mountain.
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Jean Couzy, who was an engineer in the French aeronautic industry, created his jack, made of Duralumin, for the north face of the Cima Ouest di Lavaredo, which he attempted with René Desmaison in 1958. Yet he found no use for it on this ascent. An artificial chockstone, used more as an aid rather than for belay, it was eventually marketed in two sizes by the French company Joanny in 1972, under the brand name Visse-Roc.
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Ruggeri's Coins Réglables and Joanny Visse-Roc René Desmaison. |
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In the meantime, another French rope, composed of "Southerners" Franck Ruggeri and Didier Ughetto, perfected (in 1962) a set of adjustable chocks for the north face of Corno Stella (Argentera). Of similar design to the Visse-Roc, these jacks were made of hard wood, in five sizes, the largest would lock in a crack 26cm wide. Over the pond, Warren Harding used a home-made jack |
during the first ascent of Astroman(Yosemite) in 1959, in a feature of the climb known as the Harding Slot.
또 다른 로프 제조사 프랭크 루게리와 디어 우케토가 1962년 아르젠트라의 코르너 스텔라 북벽 등반에 사용된 넓이조정이 가능한 굄목의 세트는 비세록과 유사한 디자인으로 5개의 사이즈로 구성되었으며 단단한 나무로 만들어진 이장비는 넓은것은 26cm의 넓은 크랙에서도 지지되도록 고안되었다. 1959년 미국 요세미테의 에스토르맨 루트를 처음 초등한 미국 등반가 워렌하딩은 이 등반에서 집에서 직접 제작한 잭을 사용하였는데 이것을 워렌슬롯이라 알려져 있다.우선적으로 이 기계장치는 아주 넓은 크랙을 올라가기 위해 사용되었으며 널이조정이 가능한 목표는 수직크랙에서 쐐기처럼 재밍이 되도록
고안하였으며 무거운 쇠로 만든 피톤이나 나무피톤의 대안으로 만들어 졌으며 이것은 후에 대형경량알루미늄봉봉하켄으로 대체된다
Primarily these mechanical devices were used to climb very wide cracks. An object of adjustable size would be jammed in a parallel crack of similar width offering an interesting alternative to heavy iron channel pitons or cumbersome wooden chocks and later to the American Bong-Bongs made of Aluminium. |
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Warren Harding's Crack Jack (photo by Marty Karabin). |
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The Lowe Crack Jumar (photo by Greg Lowe) |
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1967년에, 미국에서, 명석한 디자이너는 수직크랙에서의 문제에 대한해결책을 공헌했다. 그렉 로우가 생각한 균열 재머는 크랙의 각양측에 지지할수 있도록 스프링장치를 이용, 최초의 인공적인 확보장치를 고안하였다. 원시적인 계기는 그것의 분야에서, Crack Jumar 유일하게 남아 있었다. "캠 개념"를 탐구해 그렉 로우와 그의 형제 마이크는 그들의 다른 구조를 연구를 개발했다.
In 1967, in the United States, a clever designer contributed a solution to the problem of the parallel crack. The Crack Jumar, conceived by Greg Lowe, was one of the very first artificial protection gizmos using a spring to hold the device on each side of the crack. A primitive instrument, the Crack Jumar remained unique in its field. Greg Lowe and his brother Mike developed their research to consider a different structure, this time exploring the "cam concept". |
1972년에, 첫번째 시제품은 준비되어 있었다; 이 스프링의 힘으로 당겨지는 하나의 캠으로 작동되는 이제품은 불안정하다는것을 입증했다. 그러나 미래 지향적인 본체자루는 재미있어 보였다, 그래서 1973년 8월 16일, 그렉 로우는 특허를 신청했다. 우리는 일정한 각도의 캠에 대한개념을 여기에서 찾아낸다 "본체"는 동일한 캠과 인접하는 암벽표면에 대해 캠의 각도에 대해 정확한 힘이 제공된다. 만약에 각도가 너무 작다면 크랙의 다양한 범위를 충족을 못할것이고, 이 각은 만약에 크다면 아주 강한 힘에 에도 불구하고 강한 충격으로 인해 밖으로 미끄러진다. 따라서 그렉로우는그의 특허에 2개의 반대 캠을 가진 장치의 가능성에 대해 포함되어 있었다. 이것은 가까운 장래의 장치를 암시하는 히트였다. 첫번째 시제품중 한개는 로얄로빈슨에게 테스트하도록 하였으며. 그는 카멜이라고 명명 로우캠의 시작이 되였다.. 그것은 최초의 상업적인 광고로 1973년 미국의 클라이밍 접지에 광고되었으며 당시가격으로 $3,95의 소매가였다. (이 판매는 작은 혁명이었다). 처음에 빈약한 상업적인 성공은 더 정교한 버전으로 발전되어 2개의 캠과 독립적인 자루로 만들어진 스프리트 캠은 1973년 유타의 사막에 있는 슈퍼크랙 등반에 Ed 웹스터가 등반을 성공하게 되었다. In 1972, the first prototypes were ready; this spring loaded, single prong camming nut proved very fiddly to place and rather unstable. The future financial stakes however seemed interesting, so on the
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Lowe prototype, Cam Nut and Split Cam, presented by Greg Lowe and Hermann Huber. |
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16th of August 1973, Greg Lowe took a patent. We find here the constant angle cam concept: "The main body is provided with an accurate cam surface arranged for presenting a constant, intercepting angle with respect to the surface that it abuts". If too small, this angle would not allow the same device to cover a varying range of cracks, while if too large, despite very strong springs, it would slide out at the least |
shock. Greg Lowe in his patent, hit also upon the possibility of a device with two opposite cams, hinting at the tools of a near future. One of the first prototypes was entrusted to Royal Robbins for trial. He suggested the name Camel for what was to become the Lowe Cam Nut also known as the Super Nut. Its first commercial advertisement was published in the American magazine Climbing in May 1973 at a retail price of $3,95 (a bargain for this little revolution). Of poor commercial success initially, a more sophisticated version appeared, the Split Cam, |
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Very early Lowe Cam Nut advertisement published in Climbing May-June 1973. |
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made of two cams and two independent arms, which allowed Ed Webster to succeed on the veryphotogenic Super Crack of the Desert (Utah) in 1976.
1973/74의 겨울 도중, 60년대 후반의 우주선 컴퓨터 프로그래밍에서 최고의 전문가로 일했었던, 레이자딘은 비밀리에 자신의 연구를 시작했다. 의혹 그의 과학적인 배경에 있는 사고와 엄격한 분야에 고착해서, 그는 그의 미래의 확보 장치를 위한 야심 있는 작업을 시작하였다. 그것은 높은 강도와 중량을 우선으로하여고 다양한 크랙의 넓이에 대한 범용성과 한손으로 재빠르게설치할수 있는 새로운 확보장비의 개발에 대한 연구였다. 보울더에 있는 콜로라도 대학의 컴퓨터를 이용해 캠의 본체모야의 설계와 디자인을 하였고 그의 친구이자 등반장비 제조업자인 빌 포레스트 (Forrest Mountaineering), 에게 시제품 제작을 의뢰하였다. 웅대한 결과의 앞에 많은 오류가 있었다 최초의 "프렌드"는, 첫번째 기계적인 쐐기자루와 각각 독립적인 캠 로브의 쌍으로만들어졌으며 수주가 지난 후 자루와 및 손잡이(트리거:방아쇠)의 배열을 개량한 3개의 다른 사이즈의 "프렌드"가 만들어졌다.
이 새로운 장비의 고안자인 레이자딘은 돈을 버는것 보다 그 자신이 아주 강한 등반가가 되기 를 원했고 그는 정말 자유등반의 윤리와 고난이도의 크랙등반의 한계를 넘어서기를 바랬다. 그의 발명품은 나중에 많은 논쟁을 일으키는 원인이 되었기도 하였다 ; 장비박람회에 출품된 그의 장비를 보고는 몇몇 비방자들은 "프렌드" 가 등반의 정신을 죽였다는 것을 주장하기도 하였다! 레이자딘의 첫번째 "프렌드"는 (Ray Jardine의 사진), 상상할 수 없던 등반을 대담하게 시도할 수 있었으며 그의 새로운 도구에게 감사하게 되었다.
이 새로운 장비는 1977년 세계최초로 5.13급의 크랙등반 루트인 "피닉스"가 탄생하게 되는 계기가 되었다. 그러나 당초 레이자딘은 앨캐피탄의 "노오즈" 루트를 프렌드를 사용 하루에 오르겠다는 야심찬 계획이였다.
During the winter of 1973/74, Ray Jardine, who had worked in computer programming as a space-flight simulation specialist in the late sixties, began his own research in great secrecy. Adhering to a strict discipline, no doubt a side effect of his scientific background, he established an ambitious work diary for his future device: it had to be of a high ratio of strength versus weight. It would be workable with just the one hand, while covering a wide variety of cracks. Well versed in computer science, he conceived the cam shape on a mainframe computer at Colorado University in Boulder. His friend Bill Forrest (Forrest Mountaineering), a manufacturer of climbing equipment, gave him the opportunity of building his prototypes himself in a well equipped workshop. There were many hiccups before the grand result: the first Friend, the first mechanical chock armed with two opposed pairs of independent cam lobes. After many weeks of intense work to improve the stem and the trigger arrangement, a set of three different sizes was ready. |
No money "grabbing spirit" motivated Ray Jardine in the creation of this new tool. Himself a very strong climber, he truly wished to forward the limits of high level crack climbing while keeping in mind the free climbing ethic. His invention caused a great deal of controversy later; a fair few detractors would claim that Friends killed the spirit of climbing! Ray Jardine dared to lead, thanks to his new tools, unimaginable
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The first Friend (photo by Ray Jardine). |
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free climbing routes and created the first 5.13 in the world, The Phoenix, in 1977. Yet his initial ambition was to make the first "one-day" ascent of The Nose (NIAD) on El Capitan (Yosemite). |
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Prototype Friend, early Friends with circlips and with machine nuts. |
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Feeling that he had broken some extraordinary new ground with his invention, while wanting to protect so many working months, he would only climb with trusted friends. Less than a dozen or so experienced climbers, held by a moral contact with Ray Jardine, would be shown his secret weapons. The mechanical chocks were hidden under the pull-over at the base of the cliff and were "drawn" later
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well away from prying eyes. One day, at the bottom of the climbs, Kris Walker of Forrest Mountaineering asked Ray: "Did you bring your… ah…" Other climbers present tried to eavesdrop. Kris Walker, embarrassed, uttered: "…friends?" Before this incident, Ray Jardine referred to them as Grabbers, which was a little less romantic. Thus was christened one of the great revolutionary instruments of the twentieth century! |
1972년 여름 레이자딘은 아웃와드본드(야외생활협회)강사이자 영국대학교교수인 마크 발란스와 함께 작업을 하였다. 그들은 함께 등반을 하였으며 그후인 1975년 요세미테 보울더지역에서 등반을 한다.그들은 새로운 플로터타입의 프렌드발명에 성공을 하게되고 판매에도 역시 성공하게 되나 그것은 마크바란스와 헤어지지전인 1977년까지이다.
마크바란스는 미국을 떠나 영국의
스티브 빈과 함께 새로운 장비회사를 창업하게 되는데 그곳이 오늘날 전세계적으로 유명한 등반장비 제조회사인 와일드컨추리 사이다 In the summer of 1972 Ray Jardine, who then worked as wilderness instructor for Outward Bound, struck a friendship with a British colleague, Mark Vallance. They climbed together, first in the Boulder area and, later, in Yosemite. By 1975, Mark Vallance, enthralled by the new prototypes, suggested that he manufacture and market them. But it was only in 1977 that Mark Vallance left his job and took up a
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Half-sized Friends with titanium shafts, presented by Hugh Banner. |
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Mountain 56 cover. |
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partnership with Steve Bean to set up the company Wild Country back in England. 프렌드의 최초상업광고는 영국에서 발간하는 산악전문잡지 "마운틴" 59호 1978년 1월 발행판이다.이것은 마크발란스가 게재한 광고이다. 이 광고 그림은 이보다 먼저 발행되었던 마운틴56호의 레이자딘이 5.12급의 세퍼라이트 리얼리티의 천정의 수평크랙을 핸드재밍하며 자유등반하고 있는 표지사진을 일러스트화 시킨 그림광고였으며 레이자딘이 등반한 이즘에는 아직 영국의 와일드컨추리사가 창업하기 전이였다. The first advertisement published in Mountain issue 59, in January 1978, was originally drawn by Mark Vallance, which no doubt troubled the readers of this prestigious British magazine. It took over the front cover of Mountain 56 showing Ray Jardine, his hands jammed in a horizontal crack, "walking" under the roof of Separate Reality (5.12). Yet in the Wild Country |
advertisement, the mysterious protection devices were finally exposed to rather disbelieving climbers.
레이자딘은 1977년 6월4일특허를 신청했고 미국에서 공급되기 시작했으며 그가 설립한 자딘 엔터프라이스 는 아주 짧은 기간을 존속하고 말게 된다.
Ray Jardine took out a patent on the 4th June 1977 and distributed the Friends in the United States for a short period under the style of the firm, Jardine Enterprises.
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처음시판된 프렌드는 1,2,3인치 규격으로 각각 17.80달러에 판매되었고 항공기소재인 경량의 고강도인 소재알미늄 알로이 소재로 제작되었다. 1978년 발행된 미국 산악잡지 오프빌레이의 란 웨드는 프렌드의 가격이 너무 비싸다고 혹평을 하였고 이에 레이자딘은 거세게 항의하게 된다. 그는 27가지의 부품으로 제작되었고 100여번 넘는 제작과정의 테스트를 거친 전무후무한 최신의 공학을 응용 만들어졌다고 했다. The first units marketed were the sizes of 1, 2 and 3 inches at the price of $17,80 each. Built of aerospace aluminium alloy and of unrivalled strength, they would allow (while respecting certain conditions) to secure the tricky, flared cracks. The two circlips of the original samples were quickly replaced by two bonded jam nuts. In the American magazine Off Belay, Ian Wade wrote in June 1978: "Friends are not cheap" but he explained that, "with twenty-seven separate components and over one-hundred manufacturing operations, never before had a climbing tool reached such level of technology".
If there is anyone in the climbing industry that truly deserves the credit for introducing the "cam concept" to the climbing community, Kris Walker thinks it would most likely be the originators of the Jumar rope ascender, the Swiss mountain guide Adolf Jüsy and the engineer Walter Marti, in 1958. Ray Jardine suggests that cam cleats used on sailboats probably inspired the Jumar. |
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Above: Early Jardine Enterprises advertisement published in Off Belay in August 1978
Right: Very first Friend advertisement published in Mountain January-February 1978.
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In 1981, Ray Jardine retired from the forefront of the climbing scene to concentrate, with his usual brilliance, on other disciplines such as sealing, sea kayaking and hiking. Recently he wrote a book on speed hiking on very long distance, The Pacific Crest Trail Hiker's Handbook. It may be that this hand book will change this sport as the Friends revolutionized the free climbing. See also the article a Friend in Need on the Ray Jardine website.
If, in the beginning of the eighties, Friends were the absolute weapon for cracks of a certain size, there were no equivalent tools for the thin parallel cracks. With a stem of 17 mm thick and the cams fully retracted, it was impossible to place a Friend in a crack smaller than 19 mm (finger cracks)! |
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Sliders, Rock'n Roller, Quickies, Ball Nut, Cobra, Slug, and similar devices. |
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Another solution to obtain a holding power on the sides of a crack is to introduce two "head to foot" pyramidal wedges in it. Developed by John Stannard and his friends in the Gunks, the system was renewed in the Chouinard catalogue (1977) which showed two inverted Stoppers. For a year and a half, Doug Phillips tried many a combination of opposed wedging chocks before creating his Slider. The first prototypes systematically dropped out, and then |
Doug Phillips realized that if in theory the system should work, in practise both wedges do not generate the same coefficient of friction on either side of the crack. He compensated this by pouring some solder, a softer material, on only one of the faces, that in contact with the rock. Doug Phillips took out a patent on the 17th October 1983 and marketed the Sliders the same year by setting up Metolius Mountain Products. Composed of two inverted wedges made of brass, sliding one against the other, held by a dovetail, the Sliders performed well in parallel cracks of granite. Built in five different sizes, the set covered a range of 0,25 to 0,65 inches (0,63 to 1,65 cm). The market, in following years, would witness a plethora of little jewels inspired by the Sliders that could be used in flared cracks. |
1983 독일 에델리드사에서 개발한 2가지 사이즈의 아미고36~52mm 의 중간 크랙 사이즈에서 적용, 1년후 또 다른 제품인 리지드타입의 프렌드와 흡사한 제품인 "비보스" 개발 In 1983, in Germany, Edelrid produced the Amigo, in two sizes, which worked on the same principle of a wedge sliding on another. Designed for medium cracks, 36 to 52 mm, one needed a third hand to place them, that brushed aside quite a number of potential users living on our planet. A year later, the same German company produced the Bivos. Invented by Bernt Prause, this mechanical chock |
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Edelrid Amigos. |
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maintained the rigid stem of the Friend while only two cams rotated on the top of the stem. A rigid trigger mechanism locked the cams together, thus loosing all independence. A second generation of Bivos rectified this major fault. With quite a narrow head, this mechanical chock was well suited to shallow cracks.
Another rival to the Friend was conceived by the very creative David Oldridge in 1982 |
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Edelrid Bivos 1st and 2nd generation |
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Canadian Quest Technology Buddie, presented by Mark Vallance |
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영국에서 캐나다로 이민온
사람이 캐나디안 퀘스트 테크노로지 라는 회사를 창업 "부디" 라는 제품을 생산하게 된다. 상업적인 광고로 아주 좋은 평가를 받게되며 성공을 하게 된다.
An Englishman who emigrated to Canada, he founded Canadian Quest Technology around his brain child, the Buddie. In spite of a great deal of advertising, this remake of a manual razor did not reach the road to success. A mechanical chock with two opposed cams made of moulded aluminium, its design allowed it to be used as a passive chock, the cams could not be reversed, but it was unreliable in downward-outward flare
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cracks, very much the favoured territory of the Friend!
The patent taken out by Ray Jardine covered the trigger mechanism involving the rigid stem and the trigger bar. The use of constant angle cam could not be recognised as a new invention. Any potential rivals would have to research another design of handle so as not to infringe upon on the patent of the Friend. While engaged in technical studies in a college of Oregon, a young climber, Steve Byrne, was to create a small wonder. In 1982, a mate of his claimed, if he would be able to build a camming device of a half inch width, they would sell in Yosemite like hot cakes. A first batch of fifty of these miniatures, mounted by a rigid stem of steel, was brought to Yosemite by the legendary Oregon climber Alan Watts and all too soon were sold out. |
These "half-Friends" were smaller than anything available on the US market then, as camming devices. At this time, Steve Byrne was helping Doug Phillips (Metolius) with the manufacturing of the Sliders, getting accustomed to the delicate silver soldering process. During the winter of 83/84, business was slow at Metolius, and the Sliders were hard to shift. Then Steve Byrne began to improve his own mechanical chocks: a flexible stem would |
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Steve Byrne ½ inch "Friend", Wired Bliss prototype TCUs, presented by Steve Byrne. |
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make them more versatile and reliable under certain conditions. Suddenly, inspiration caught him: withdraw one of the four cams and build a U-shaped flexible body made of a cable to be attached to the two ends of the axle. A star was born! |
The TCU or Three Cam Unit, very narrow, would home in shallow cracks, while its flexible wire frame would allow it to be used in horizontal cracks. It was a major step forward. Doug Phillips did not encourage Steve Byrne to take out a patent, this allowed many future competitors to fill in the gap. In 1985, Steve Byrne moved to Flagstaff (Arizona) and started his company, Wired Bliss. Offered in five sizes, the TCU seemed to have come straight out of a |
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Wired Bliss TCUs and very rare Narrow TCUs
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clockmakers workshop and could be used in cracks of 0,4 to 1,4 inches. Unfortunately, Steve Byrne was soon to run into trouble, another rival company, better established in the States, outwitted him. In a very short period of time, he was competing with three serious rivals. |
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Bergsport Jokers. |
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1985년 독일화사인 베르그스포츠사의 스테판 엥거가 "조커"를 발명 생산하게된다. 오직 2개의 유동적인 캠과 간단하게 고안된 와이어케이블로 구성된 자루에 스프링코일로 보강된 세련된 제품이였다. 익것은 새로운 유연성있는 자루개념이였으며 어떤형태의 크랙에서도 사용할수 있도록 고안된 제품였다. With the Joker, invented in 1985 by Stefan Engers, the German company Bergsport made a marked entry in the world of the mechanical chock. With only two mobile cams and a simple loop of cable stiffened by a coiled spring, this new comer had the advantage of a flexible handle to adapt to all positions.
A legendary figure in British climbing, the graduate electrical engineer Hugh Banner, |
was already specialising himself in the making of micro nuts made of silicon bronze in the early eighties. In 1982, during a bivouac at Camp 6 on The Nose, Mark Vallance asked him to make his Offsets for Wild Country. Mastering the silver soldering process, Hugh Banner began to work on a camming device. In the beginning, it was an English replica of the TCU of Wired Bliss, yet he advantageously changed the trigger |
mechanism by a single ring pull workable with just one finger. The device, becoming narrower, would home deeper in the cracks and was easier to retrieve. Hugh Banner took out a patent on the 5th August 1987 and his Micromates, the first TCUs in England, were marketed by Clog, then owned by Wild Country. Very well and carefully made, they rightly completed the range of Friends. |
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HB prototypes, Micromates and Quadcams, presented by Hugh Banner. |
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Hugh Banner, wanting hisown independence, set up HB Climbing Equipment in Wales in 1988. To fill up his catalogue, he took up the concept of the U-shape, flexible wire frame for a camming device with four cams, the Quadcam, first protection of its style. Oddly, HB used silicon bronze for the cams of the smallest size of the Micromates and the Quadcams. Hugh Banner did not stop there; soon he would use his knowledge of the hot forging process for a new mechanical chock with a rigid stem: the Fix. The stem of the original Friends was made from aluminium alloy extruded rod. Hot forging |
ensures that the grain structure of the metal is compact and correctly oriented. The HB Fix, marketed in 1990, had a strong, hot forged stem, yet not to infringe on Ray Jardine's patent, the trigger assembly was completely redesigned. Two separate triggers operated each a pair of cams, a system that HB protected by taking out a patent on the 3rd January 1991. Now 73 years old and a true mine of scientific knowledge on the nuts' story, Hugh |
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HB Fixes. |
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Banner today runs his business with his wife Maureen, with great dynamism*. ( * they retired in 2004 ) |
A climber from Durango, (Colorado), convinced that the safest protection requires a minimum of four cams, began to think about it. In 1986, David Waggoner started Colorado Custom Hardware with the production of the Trigger Cams. Small squat camming devices with a stainless steel rigid stem, they owed their narrowness to an astuteness foreseeing the future creations of their designer: the springs that
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CCH Trigger Cams, presented by Dave Waggoner |
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loaded the cams had merged between the two sides of the rigid frame. Later, David Waggoner invented the Cable Pro and created what he was to call "The Stainless Steel Control Sheath" on which he took a patent on the 11th August 1987. A sheath of plated steel thread allowed the device to operate whatever the bending of the flexible stem and to place and to retrieve the Cable Pro in the most awkward slots. The sheath also protected the main cable from |
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CCH Cable Pros and Alien III |
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abrasion. Yet David Waggoner's true stroke of genius was completed by inserting the springs within each of the cams, finally realizing the narrowest four cam unit in the world! He took out a patent on his latest invention on the 2nd of December 1988. A combination of these two brilliant ideas would later create the Alien, a sophisticated device in which it is difficult to recognize the primitive Trigger Cam.
Graduated, with a Ph. D. degree in Mechanical and Human Factors Engineering from UCLA (University of |
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CCH Alien |
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California in Los Angeles) and an inventor by profession, Tony Christianson specialized in the design of life support systems for diving and climbing. A few years ago, he met Yvon Chouinard, then owner of the famous Californian company Chouinard Equipment (today Black Diamond) when he tried to interest him in an exercise device he had invented. Chouinard politely declined his offer but expressed an interest in any idea he might have for camming protection. Chouinard Equipment had |
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Prototype Camalot (photo by Tony Christianson). |
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to complete its arsenal with a performing camming device. Tony Christianson returned to his drawing board and it took months of thought and many false starts before there was some light at the end of the tunnel: using two parallel axles instead of one does appreciably increase the expansion range of the device. When Tony Christianson went back to Chouinard Equipment with his prototype, the welcome was a great deal warmer. One nearly brought out the champagne and the petits fours. |
At Chouinard, things are not done lightly; hence many prototypes were tested in and outdoors, thus delaying the launch onto the market of this new candidate to the five continents' cracks. Tony Christianson protected his invention by taking out a patent on the 26th of September 1985. |
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Chouinard Camalots 1st generation.
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To the two springs guided by the legs of the U-shaped body of his prototype, the engineers Julio Varela and Honk Kyu Kwak found that the best cam action was achieved by individually loading the cams with torsion springs. With a name resulting from many suggestions by employees at Chouinard Equipment, the Camalot was marketed in September 1987, sixteen years after the first Hexentrics. |
If the wider cracks had always intimidated climbers, it was more due to the lack of appropriate protection devices than by cowardice, the early tools available on the market being awkward. The various models available later were replicas in growth of the Friends, homemade and more or less |
reliable. The first manufacturer to think about it seriously was C.C.H. who produced the Seismo in 1986, illegitimate child of the Friend and the Visse-Roc. With two cams opposed to an adjusting crossbar, it was possible to increase the range of this device by three extensions made in two, three and four inch lengths and usable in any combination. This disquieting object has fallen into oblivion. |
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CCH Seismo, presented by Dave Waggoner. |
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In 1984, Craig Luebben, guru of the offwidths, designed a new concept of protection device for his senior honors thesis in mechanical engineering at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins. After |
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Craig Luebben prototype Bigbro, Mountain Hardwear Bigbros, 1st and 2nd generation. |
seven rough prototypes, his Bigbro was operational. Built of two tubes sliding within each other, the Bigbro owes its expansion to a powerful inner spring. It can be placed by the one hand and is more specifically applicable to parallel cracks. With a name straight out that great classic book 1984 by George Orwell, "Big Brother is watching you", the size 4 Bigbro at 30,5 cm long, is probably the biggest mechanical chock in the world. |
In the States in 1987, John Yates (Yates Gear), and later in Spain, Jaume Aregall (Fixe) marketed giant units that would allow a sensible approach to toughest and most forbidding slots. Both manufacturers have adopted the now well established four cam configuration for their devices. In size 5, 6 and 7 inches, the Yates Big Dudes favoured a U-shaped flexible stem. John Yates also
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Yates Gear Big Dudes. One sample is signed "John Yates". |
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made a few samples Big Dudes in 9 inches for fun. |
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Left: Home made #9 cam. About 40 of these were made by Steve Byrne and Glen Dickenson in 1982.
Right: Yates Gear Big Dude #9.
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With a set of seven different sizes, the Fixe Companys (Friends in Catalan) reused the rigid stem of the original Friends, the greatest size covering a crack of 27,5 cm. There is even a collector's sample that covers… 35 cm!
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Fixe Companys |
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Gear from the Nuts Museum including Giant Cams (from left to right): Tom Kasper New-Generation Valley Giant #9 and #12 (2003), Old -School Valley Giant #12 (made of magnesium) (2002) and Wally Cam #16!
80년도 미국에서 생산한 피터 테일러가 고안한 "코요테 마운티"사의 "삼손"은 초경량제품으로 화이버 글라스, 카본, 나일론등을 혼합 압축시킨 신소재로 간단한 스프링을 이용 캠을 제작 시판하게된다.그러나 많은 클라이머들은 외면하게 된다. 도니노 나테니그게임처럼 등반은 결코 경량의 운동이 아니기때문이고 그럴 필료성을 느끼지 못했기 때문이다. 결국 이회사은 아주 짧은 비지네스로 문을 닫게 된다.
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Far from being exhaustive, this retrospective needs to remember another item "made in USA" in the eighties. Invented by Peter Taylor, the Coyote Mountain Works Samson was probably the only spring loaded camming device almost exclusively made of composite, (long fiber glass, carbon, nylon). While being extremely light and covering a wide expansion range, the Samsons were short lived, as climbers resigned this noble |
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Coyote Mountain Works Coyote Nut # 4 & Samson Cam # 4 . |
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compound to skills lesser than climbing, such as… dominos or tennis!
What is in store for us in the third millennium? There may well be some budding Ray Jardine who is working in great secrecy on the future "Slab-Kiss" to allow the conquest of blanker mirrors, "boltless", while emancipating oneself of Rambo's drill… | |