Objects Database

Fisher Figure of Eight Descendeur

Accession Number

493.2008.1

Object Name

Fisher Figure of Eight Descendeur

Created

25/11/2008

Creator

Hermione Cooper

Accession Date

25/11/2008

Brief Description

Brass abseil device. Large rectangular hole and small round hole.

Materials

Special steel

Dimensions

12.5(l) x 8(w)cms

Number Of Objects

1

Colour

brown

Provenance

George Fisher set up his little Mountain Equipment Shop in Keswick, English Lake District in 1957 and amongst other innovative items, he commissioned a local engineering company to make these Figure of Eight Descendeurs ( using the french spelling which was the ‘cool’ thing to do then.)
George had created an earlier Figure of Eight which, amongst other things was not suited to the hawser laid ropes in use at the time. This version was - as George tells us - made of ‘special steel’
Aluminium versions quickly followed. They were lighter and cheaper to produce, so George’s pioneering device was quickly consigned to the history books and collections such as ours.
This particular one was briefly used by Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team for stretcher lowering.

Acquisition Date

25/11/2008

Condition Check Date

28/04/2009

Rules

Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007

Modified

28/04/2009

Go Back

Related Items

Brevete Pierre Allain Abseil Device
Fisher Figure of Eight Descender

Click to see larger view

Click image for enlarged view

Click to see larger view

Click image for enlarged view

Click to see larger view

Click image for enlarged view

Back to top