Rope lock

A steel, oval-shaped safety ring encircles both the rope and the handle to ensure that the lock cannot be accidentally released.

Simple rope locks are designed to immobilize only balanced or slightly unbalanced loads; they will not hold significantly unbalanced line sets in place nor are they intended to be used for line set speed control.

[citation needed] More complex rope locks are available which will prevent unlocking if the line set is excessively unbalanced.

Rope locks are also available which are designed to hold unbalanced line-sets and act effectively as a brake.

When a padlock is installed, the control lever is locked in the vertical orientation and the line set cannot be moved.

Rope lock, with oval locking ring engaged. The padlock hole is visible at the base of the handle.
Metal cams grip the rope.