Vintage Wright 1/2 ton hoist

[Nazryt]

Hello there. I hope I'm asking this in the correct location of the forum. I'm new to this forum but found it doing a search trying to research my vintage Wright 1/2 ton hoist. I recently acquired this hoist, and it seems in nice working order. But a cannot figure how to release the arm that locks the the gear / wheel that the lifting chain turns on. I'm sorry I may not use the correct terminology but I'm not real educated on chain hoists. I'm including a couple of photos, two where you can see the locking arm that has an open hole in it. Can anyone tell me what I am missing here? Thanks so much for the help!

 

[metalmagpie]

You have both the lifting chain and the hand chain installed? Hang the thing up on something and pull the hand chain one way and then the other. Those things are meant to be installed way up in the air; no way you should have to manually free something up to use it.

metalmagpie

 

[Nazryt]

That's what I thought. I'll try again. Thanks