HAAS knee ascender patent

If anyone on the Buzz ever uses the phrase "Very Not Bad" without my permission I will sue your ass so fast!
-AJ
What about the phrase "...not very not bad.", which actually means "bad"? I've used that one recently.
 
@WaitakKauri , if those guys can't make it, I'll come. Dig?
Dig? I hate that, I spent 6 months of my life once digging 12"x12" footings for block walls in very very hard ground with guys that did not speak my language. Now I'm not only confused, I feel tired just thinking about those days. Funny, in those days I thought I was in good shape and fairly smart. I learned so much from those guys AND got stronger.
 
Dig? I hate that, I spent 6 months of my life once digging 12"x12" footings for block walls in very very hard ground with guys that did not speak my language. Now I'm not only confused, I feel tired just thinking about those days. Funny, in those days I thought I was in good shape and fairly smart. I learned so much from those guys AND got stronger.
That evokes the first world problems that I hear from people from time to time. It's a good exercise to contrast them with the several underpaid farm workers in my area that will out-produce and out-smile others, and SING happy songs while doing so. Dig? Sure! :)
 
My co-worker's HAAS Velox is falling apart, I don't know why people like them. The plastic tubes for the shock cord are popping out the top, The little pulley at the bottom pops out of place, the stitching at the bottom is disintegrating from (what should have been) predictable wear. Covered in electrical tape now and looks like a mess. It was all downhill from the start.

I just made one with a Petzl Basic and webbing. No tending bungee, just a stiff piece of wire stuck in the top (tied to Basic) and bottom (top of foot loop) knots. Chafe sleeve around the foot loop with a strip of heavy leather inside to flatten the bottom, and a loop of shock cord to really snug it around my foot. Works perfect and its completely re-buildable. Since I bought the basic from europe for $50 shipped (trekkinn), it was maybe 60$ total cost. And if you somehow hate it, you can just take the basic off to make a selner hand ascender with a delta shackle and 5/8" tenex.
 
@WaitakKauri , if those guys can't make it, I'll come. Dig?
Sounds good! I'll find something to dig if you really want. You can probably get a seasonal work visa for working in the orchards. That's hard hard work like you and Richard are saying.

Otherwise, I'll be searching for good trees. Found one with a tagline and amazing epiphytes. The view of the valley would be awesome. Many large Kauri to view.

image.webp
Humm, has uploaded sideways, not sure how to fix. Sorry
 
Sounds good! I'll find something to dig if you really want. You can probably get a seasonal work visa for working in the orchards. That's hard hard work like you and Richard are saying.

Otherwise, I'll be searching for good trees. Found one with a tagline and amazing epiphytes. The view of the valley would be awesome. Many large Kauri to view.

The orchard work could be rad. How about any other tree work?
 
Sounds good! I'll find something to dig if you really want. You can probably get a seasonal work visa for working in the orchards. That's hard hard work like you and Richard are saying.

Otherwise, I'll be searching for good trees. Found one with a tagline and amazing epiphytes. The view of the valley would be awesome. Many large Kauri to view.

View attachment 38988
Humm, has uploaded sideways, not sure how to fix. Sorry
Honestly, if you put something together it would be an awesome trip. Count me in, seriously. Make a Buzz Board Special. (BBS) I'll donate 10 SAKAs. I'm suffering from the heat but this winter I'm sure I would be ready for a taste of your summer.
 
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You know Richard, the bungee installation is simple enough anyone could do it themselves. A knee ascender with no bungee cord installed in the tubing is not really a patent issue as I see it. Just a thought. You probably can't sell or give bungee away but I think we could all figure it out.
 
The orchard work could be rad. How about any other tree work?

Good question. I'm not an arborist by trade, just a rec climber, but there have been a small number of posts here related to people travelling this way. I honestly haven't paid much attention though. Places to look for local jobs would be www.seek.co.nz and www.trademe.co.nz (our version of eBay which is highly reputable and includes jobs) or maybe a large arb shop like www.treescape.co.nz If you know www.kiwiklimbers.com, maybe he has an idea.

Rec climbing wise, Richard has me thinking of a summer event.
 
Honestly, if you put something together it would be an awesome trip. Count me in, seriously. Make a Buzz Board Special. (BBS) I'll donate 10 SAKAs. I'm suffering from the heat but this winter I'm sure I would be ready for a taste of your summer.

You've got me thinking. A sort of kiwi climbing road trip.

Happy to hear ideas. I'll start a BBS thread and chuck some thoughts in there.
 
You know Richard, the bungee installation is simple enough anyone could do it themselves. A knee ascender with no bungee cord installed in the tubing is not really a patent issue as I see it. Just a thought. You probably can't sell or give bungee away but I think we could all figure it out.

My understanding is that it would still violate the patent because of the intent. At any rate hopefully Richard can validate his device as not infringing on the Hass patent.

Went through this a few years back when SherrillTree did the same thing to the Sidewinder Slingshot created by a climber/inventor in Georgia. The Big Shot patent is quite broad and covers any large slingshot device (no matter what the design details are) mounted on a stick. There was discussion about selling the Sidewinder head without a pole, SherrillTree shot that down as well (pun intended). I still use my Sidewinder to this day, excellent device.
-AJ
 
I have stayed out of the argument over patents because I know little about patent law. But, in terms of performance, I can tell you that I have used both the HAAS Velox and the SAKA, and the two devices perform differently. The double bungie system in the SAKA generates a much stronger upward force on the ascender than does the system in the HAAS, probably because it avoids the loss of efficiency due to passing around a pulley. So, I like them both, but am really hoping that Richard gets his patent, because I want a choice.
 
It seems so ridiculous. Its a bungee for Christ sake. I dont have either device but was considering a saka because it seems simple, thats how i like to keep my climbing. I dont need a pulley in the thing to tend a piece of bungee cord or whatever it does. Time to build
 
IMO, the velox is an "oh shit.. someone bested my idea" scramble. Richard improves on the HAAS, Hauser bites on that idea, rebuilds (albeit, poorly) then threatens a suit. Weak sauce, man. Definitely soured me on any HAAS related product from here on out.

Good luck with all this crap Richard. If there's a way to buy the components from you, and build it myself.. I'm in. Screw a supplier.
 
. actually its a funny story.

So I made the haas and it it was working well but not good enough, I wanted to make it better. I knew as soon as guys forgot how bad body thrusting up a tree was they would realize that the haas was not perfect in operation, way better than any other option , but there was still room for improvement. . So I started playing with the idea of doubling up the bungee and terminating it at the top around a shive at th bottom and all that
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in the prototype stage it worked well but its really hard to get stuff made in such small batches. our industry is tiny by comparison, companies want order of 10k parts. molds are expensive and the cost have to be covered by the volume. that will never happen in arb. so I had proven the concept of the Velox but could not get it to a price that I could feel ok with. I wanted it cheaper so people could afford it. my prototype was expensive. Anyway I was working on it when I get a call from a friend, he said he you have to get on the buzz and check out this video yoyo did. I got on and sure as sh$t he is holding a haas telling everyone how to make it. but in his opinion better. and he had 2 lengths of bungees in it.. I about cried. I stared down and thought i was beat to the punch.. now at this point i had patent protection, it was provisional, which mean retroactive provided I get a published patent. my wife came over to see what the deal was.. then I started looking and yoyo did not actually do anything different that my original haas. functionally it was identicle to the original. at this point I was laughing, he basically lined up 2 haas next to each other and used a weaker bungee, meaning there is no benefit at all.. he literally took my protected system added a second patented system next to it and said he invented something. its like double infringement. what was strange to me was how he convince people we are both the inventors of this, even after he himself made a video of him holding up my haas and giving me credit as the inventor and on this form.. so strange. then his next video was him selling his thing, because he realized he could make money on it, on my idea. away as soon as I had saved up enough money from haas sales to make the Velox I pulled the trigger and hoped for the best.
 

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