Portable roof anchor

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Accordingly, there is a need for an improved portable roof anchor device that is light enough to be handled by one man, that is flexible enough to accommodate a large variety of space limitations, that can be easily maneuvered around obstacles on a roof, and that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture when compared to the prior art devices described above.
A roof rig is needed that can accommodate a parapet wall, while at the same time making it easy for a user to rappel from a rooftop.
A portable anchor designed specifically for supporting a line along a side of a structure is described herein as including: a beam member having a line support end, a counterweight end, and a pivot location; a line support member attached to the beam member at a line support location proximate the line support end; a counterweight attached to the beam member at a counterweight location proximate the counterweight end; wherein the beam member is slidably extendible in length so that the distance from the counterweight location to the pivot location may be fixed at any of a plurality of lengths.
The portable anchor may include: a hollow outer member and an inner member extending partially into the hollow outer member and slidably moveable therein to be fixed at any of the plurality of lengths.
The portable anchor may be carried in a line-deployed configuration by a single person having one hand holding a handle on the counterweight side of a center of gravity of the assembly and a second hand cradling the beam member between the center of gravity location and the line support end.
The portable anchor may further include a pair of line storage members attached to the beam mechanism, so that when the line is wrapped around the line storage members, the line forms a handle for carrying the beam member.
The counterweight may have a generally triangular shape rotatably attached to the beam member proximate a corner of the generally triangular shape so that a flat side of the counterweight is self-leveling