Objects Database

Stubai Karabiner brake

Accession Number

1044.2013.1

Object Name

Stubai Karabiner brake

Created

16/01/2013

Creator

Hermione Cooper

Accession Date

16/01/2013

Brief Description

Stubai karabiner with 'brake' bar.

Materials

metal

Dimensions

10(l) x 6(w) cms

Number Of Objects

1

Inscription Description

"STUBAI MADE IN AUSTRIA" on karabiner

Colour

brown

Maker

Stubai

Object Production Place

Austria

Provenance

This fabulous little item of kit says just about everything there is to say about innovation, evolution and simplicity; though it might not pass the scrutiny of the modern day health and safety executive!
Ever since the inception of the sport, mountaineers have needed to descend ropes for various reasons and early systems wrapped the rope around the body to get the necessary friction. Borrowing the word abseil(down rope) from the Germans, this system became known as the Classic Abseil, though as the rope passed very near to a certain area of the body it was often called the knacker cracker!
When karabiners came along in the 1920's the half abseil was invented (see diagram opposite). This too could be rather painful so the next stop was to create friction(i.e. a brake) using the karabiner, and someone worked out that by putting a bar across, the right amount of friction was produced - providing that you had the correct diameter of rope!
So here we have a very early version of a karabiner brake from the 1950's and we just love it. The karabiner is a standard Stubai from the era, but the bar looks homemade though it could br a crude production model. These things were pretty scary and fortunately were not around for long - equally scary figure of eight descenders came along and soon became rather more refined.
Our old friend Ken Ledward gave us this little beauty, though he's not sure where it came from originally.
PS The George Fisher advert opposite seems to indicate that these abseil karabiners were production items and not homemade - still pretty scary though!!

Acquisition Method

Donated by Ken Ledward

Acquisition Date

16/01/2013

Condition Check Date

16/01/2013

Rules

Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007

Modified

16/01/2013

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