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Belay devices are mechanical pieces of climbing equipment used to control a rope during belaying. They are designed to improve belay safety for the climber by allowing the belayer to manage their duties with minimal physical effort. With the right belay device, a small, weak climber can easily arrest the fall of a much heavier partner. Belay devices purposely do not instantly 'lock' to arrest a fall, since an instant stop from a fall during lead climbing would probably injure the climber or cause all the protection devices to fail. Instead, belay devices act as a friction brake, so that when a climber falls with any slack in the rope, the fall is brought to a stop over a finite (but reasonably short) distance.