US Patent 9623269 Systems for assisted braking belay with a cam-clutch mechanism

One embodiment of the present invention relates to an assisted braking belay system with a housing, camming mechanism, and clutch mechanism. The housing may include a substantially enclosed rope channel through which a rope may extend to the climber. The camming mechanism is moveably coupled to the housing and configured to automatically engage a camming surface upon the rope across the rope channel if the rope translates through the channel at a particular acceleration rate. The clutch mechanism may function as a secondary locking mechanism to engage the camming surface of the camming mechanism upon the rope across the rope channel.