Line cleats for securing ropes, but especially for lines to sails of sailboats

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A cam cleat for use in a sailboat environment having a base plate and a pair of cam elements pivotally mounted on the base plate about spaced axes normal to the base plate. The cam elements have eccentric confronting faces that coact to define a line-gripping nip therebetween. The cam elements are pivotable about the axes of the cam elements to permit a line to enter the nip and to pass therethrough in one direction only axially of the line and to hold the line against retrogressive movement in the opposite axial direction. Inclined surfaces cooperate to define a V-shaped gap into the nip. The V-shaped gap is located above the nip. The inclined surfaces have serrations thereon which lie …