The present disclosure provides an appliance for towing compact loads (e.g., logs), and include an auxiliary winch provided in combination with a main winch on a tractor without the need for separate powering means or the need to transport said auxiliary winch to the area adjacent to the load (away from the main winch/tractor.) The appliance may be provided by upgrading an existing tractor winch by, for example, attaching the auxiliary winch to a casing of the main winch, or to the ground adjacent the tractor with the main winch. The auxiliary winch may be furnished with a driving means powered by disposable powering means on the tractor that may include auxiliary pulley block(s) with an accompanying accessory to provide attachment thereof to the terrain, with each pulley block suitable for guiding an auxiliary cable in the area outside of the line between the main winch and the load.

A switching assembly for rope-pulling equipment including mechanisms for holding an electrically-operated power tool for rotating a capstan about an axis and which power tool includes a depressible ON/OFF switch utilizes an actuator having a switch-engaging portion which is mounted for pivotal movement between a first condition at which the switch of the power tool is in an OFF position and a second condition at which the switch of the power tool is depressed by the switch-engaging portion to switch the power tool ON. The actuator further includes a rope-engaging section so that by wrapping a section of rope to be pulled about the capstan, routing an end of the rope about the rope-engaging section and then appropriately pulling upon the end of the rope, the actuator is pivoted from the first to the second condition, and the rope is advanced along the equipment by the rotating capstan.

An unmanned aerial vehicle system includes an unmanned aerial vehicle, a user input device, and ground station. The user input device is configured to generate a signal and control the unmanned aerial vehicle based on the generated signal. The ground station is coupled to the unmanned aerial vehicle via a tether assembly. The ground station includes a motorized spool and a controller. The motorized spool is coupled to the tether assembly and configured to electromechanically control spooling and unspooling of a tether of the tether assembly. The controller is configured to control operation of the motorized spool based on an anticipated movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

A self-localization method and system to estimate the position of a tethered quadcopter using only the onboard sensors. Embodiments of the invention are based on the dynamics of the tethered quadcopter and the principles of an accelerometer. The estimated orientation angles of the tether were used to estimate the location of the quadcopter with respect to the connecting point of the tether, which can be a ground vehicle. The results generated by both the software simulation and actual experiments reveal the effectiveness and accuracy of embodiments of the present invention.

Disclosed is a hoist apparatus including: an electric motor, and a control box that can be electrically powered by a power supply, the control box including at least an electronic control circuit, an electrical wiring and an external casing forming a box of the control box, the external casing including at least sidewalls and a removable lid closing the box, the control box controlling the operations of the electric motor thanks to the electrical wiring connected to the electronic control circuit, to the power supply and to the electric motor, and a monitoring device, wherein the monitoring device is an insert of the box, the monitoring device being arranged within an enclosure, the enclosure being an added part of the box or being an exchanged part of the box and wherein the monitoring device is connected to the electrical wiring.

An unmanned robot system for a tethered robot, for example, a tethered aircraft, is disclosed. The unmanned system, in one embodiment, includes an unmanned aircraft tethered to a ground station by a tether cable. In one embodiment, an aerial winch and cable unit is provided on the aircraft to manage cable release. Alternatively, winch and cable units may be provided on both the aircraft and ground station. As the aircraft is now able to freely operate cable release to overcome any disturbances along the cable length, the operational effectiveness of the aircraft is greatly improved.

A method and a system for controlling the winding/unwinding of a rope portion onto/from a rotary drum, comprises the step of making available a rope which is at least partially wound onto a rotary drum, wherein the rope is guided from the rotary drum along a defined path as far as a hauling point, wherein a traction force acts on the rope beyond the hauling point. The method comprises unwinding or winding the rope by executing a rotation of the rotary drum, such that a defined rope portion is moved along the defined path; and determining the length of the defined rope portion in the region of the defined path. The method comprises determining an angle difference corresponding to the rotation of the rotary drum; and controlling the rotary drum for further winding/unwinding taking into account the length and the angle difference. A calibration in the region of the defined path during the use of the rotary drum provides a control for the rotary drum.

The present invention relates to a lifting device for example in the form of a crane such as a tower crane, with a hoisting gear comprising a hoisting cable which runs off from a drum that can be driven by a hoisting gear drive, and a hoisting gear brake for holding the hoisting cable in a braked position. The invention furthermore relates to a method for starting up the hoisting gear of such a lifting device from the braked position in which the hoisting gear brake holds a hoisting load, wherein a starting torque is built up by a hoisting gear drive against the closed hoisting gear brake, and the hoisting gear brake is released upon or after reaching the starting torque. According to the invention it is proposed that when the hoisting gear brake is closed, the current hoisting load is detected by means of a load detection device and the starting torque is adjusted by the hoisting gear controller with reference to the detected current hoisting load such that the hoisting force provided by the starting torque of the hoisting gear corresponds to the detected, current hoisting load.

A wire pulling wincher apparatus attachable to a tractor, loader or other mobile transport device capable of receiving attachments has a pass through frame attachable to the mobile device, a vertical support member on the frame for supporting a first winch with cable for attaching and pulling a fence wire to be tensioned, a second winch for raising and lowering a slide block assembly through which the first winch cable is guided to allow pulling the first winch cable at different vertical heights, and has winch tension limiting apparatus.

A method and system for synchronizing downhole tractor and surface winch deployment includes inserting into a wellbore a tool string connected to a wireline, the tool string comprising a variable speed tractor, deploying the tractor, deploying the wireline from a winch; dynamically monitoring, by a device disposed downhole, a wireline tension as an indicator of synchronization of the tractor and winch, and adjusting, by the device, the tractor speed in response to a disparity in tension to match the winch speed.