US1935349A - Folding ladder - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 14, 1933. E. BRESLOW FOLDING LADDER Filed July 19, 1932 3 Shegts-Sheet l INVZNTOZZ Zdwzzm 571252710 Nov. 14, 1933. E. BRESLOW 1,935,349

FOLDING LADDER Filed July 19, 1952 3 Shets-Sheet 2 IN VI, T012 Edward E)" 2w M/ZWM Nov. 14, 1933. BRESLQW 1,935,349

FOLDING LADDER Filed July 19, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Burma/r7012 Emmi ,Breslmrr Patented NOV-- 1 v 1,935,349 j L EOLDIN LAI DER i; Breslow, Camden, N. Appellant July 19,. 1932.1 Serial No. 623,311 a Q CIaiins. (c1. 228 -24) My invention relates to new and. useful improvements in a folding ladder, and has for one of its objects to generally improve the construction of, such devices whereby parts maybe folded upon-one anotherinto', compact form and which when extended for use will bestron'g and durable. Another object of the-invention is'to provide a folding step ladder in which the'sections of both 'theb'race and stepportion of the ladder are foldable but inseparableinprder to produce a relatively small compact .parcel which Ali/i11 occupy a small amount of space lengthwise and'thereby permit easy transportation.

Y A further object'of the invention is toprovide one; section of :a ladder element withaT-shaped sockets; the stem; portions of which'project outsid'efof the edges) of the ladder element stiles whereby when the sections of a ladder element are f0lded,'-saidstiles' will parallel one another;

2% "Another object of the invention is to provide a ladder having T-shaped socke'ts wherein the outer ends of the socket stems are formed by generally U"-shaped straps mounted-on the outeredges of the stiles of-one section with-which register'a outer ends of the socketstems being-of suflicient tior'is will be parallel even' though the steps pro- 1 6 j ectb e'yond the outer edges of the stiles.

A further object of the invention is to apply my inventi dnt o an ordinary step ladder or :a foldablev straight ladderhav'ing steps or a foldable straight -ladder'havingrun's. r still further object of the invention is; to pro- -vide unique means for fastening the'sections' of the 'iladder in an, extended position; With these'andflother ends in view, this 'inven-. ticn co'nsists 'in the'det'ails of -con'struction and combination of elements hereinafterset forth and thenspecificallydesignated by the claims."

' In order that'those skilled inthe art to which this invention ,ap'pertains may understand how to make and use the same, I willdesc'ribe its construction in detaiLjreferring by numerals to the accompanying-drawings"forming a part of this "application, in which:-' f

Fig. l is a perspective View of a step ladder illustrating one embodiment of my -invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view partly .in elevation and partly in spreader. V, v I

Fig. 3- is an enlarged perspective view'of one of the socket plates.

bodied, 10 and .llrrepresent the step. portion'and rung or the'equivalentof the other'section, the

be braced by cross rods located directly beneath section, showing one form of 'Fig. 4 isan enlarged'side elevation of the step ri ustratedin Fig. 1, shown in a folded condition; Fig; 5 is a longitudinal sectional View of Fig.4.

Fig. 6 is a perspective-view on a reduced scale e V of a straight step ladde'rcons'tructed in accordance with my invention with parts broken away a to clearlyillustrate details of construction.

Fig. '7'isaviewsi'mi1arto Fig.6, of a ladder- 'havingrungs in lieu of the "steps;

In carrying out my invention-as"herein-'em brace respectiyely both of which are pivotally connected to the top or platform .12;.by suitable brackets 13. andpivoting means 14, such'as bolts or their equivalents. If found desirable, *wea'r (plates 15 may be interposed between the brackets and contiguousparts of the brace and step por- 7 tion, particularly when the. latter is made/oi.

wood.v Q a The step portion 10 is'made' up of a numberiof sections, and. inthe particularembodiment herein illustrated, I have shown said step portion as comprising two sections 16 and 17 and each section includes a pair of stiles 18 between and to which are secured a suitable numbe'rof steps19. While it is not absolutely essentiaLyI prefer that inthe step ladder the stiles .diverge from their upper ends toward their lower ends. q 1 7 The stiles and the steps, if found desirable,may

85. each step andthese brace rods may be in thesform of long bolts fhavingnuts threaded on one orboth ends thereof.

' Each stile of one 'of the step portion sections,'for

' edge of the stile is mounted a U-shaped strap 24 having itsv ends bent outwardly to receivefa'sten' ing devices 25 by which said strap is. ,secured,;to the stile. The open end of thisU-shaped strap 1'00 aligns or ,registerswiththe open end of therstem 23 of the socket and forms an extension 26:of saidstem." V

In forming the socket 21, considerable. of "the stile material tisv removed and in orderito v strengthenthe same,.I'provide a plate 27; Fig.1 3, including'a-panel 28 to engage the inner face. of

a stile'and from the side edges of which project flanges 29' to engage'the edges oftheistile... In

the panel is formed an opening 30 corresponding 11G the upper part of the panel partially severed y from one of the flanges 29 and bent outwardly to produce a triangular shapedllip 32 to overlie the same step under which the tongue is positioned, and a fastening device 33 is passed through the lip, the coacting step and the tongue. The fastening devices 25 used for attaching the straps24 to the stiles may also be used for fastening the strengthening plates in position.

The other section, as 17, of the step portion 1 has a bar 34, which may be in the form of a ladder rung extending crosswise between the stiles 18 of said section 17 and spaced from the adjacent or uppermoststep 19 of said section 17 a distance approximately equal to the spacing of the steps because-said bar is to underlie thelower step of the section 16 when the ladder is extended or in an open position.

Thebar 34'is enclosed within the sockets, including thestraps 24, and prevents separation of one section from the other but permits one of the sections to be rotated orswung in a semicircle and moved laterally within the limitations of the sockets and also moved longitudinally within the heads of the sockets for purposes which wil be-presently and more fully described.

The section 16 of .the'step portion also has a bar35, which may be in the form of a rung, extending crosswisebetween the two stiles of said section and preferably underlies the second step 'fromthe bottom of said section although this position is not compulsory. By passing saidzbar 35 under a step, said bar is less likely to interfere in any way with the use of the ladder;

Theends of the bar 35 project beyond or outside of the outer flat or side faces of the stiles 18 of said step section 16 andxprovide projections 36 for registration with notches 37 in the inner or normally upper ends of the'stiles 18 of the step section17, and when the .projections 36 are seated in the notches 37, the rod 34 will be in the normally upper ends of the heads 22 of the sockets 21, thereby preventing rotary 'or swingingv movementof the lower section 17 relative to the upper section 16. 1

In order to prevent the stiles from splitting due to the notch ends, plates 38 which are U-shaped in cross section and therefore have flanges 39 are placed over the outside side faces of the normally upper ends of the stiles'and said plates have notches 40 in their normally'upper edges corresponding with the notches 37 of the normally upperends of the stiles.

Bails -41 are hinged'to the normally upper ends of the stiles of the section 17 by means of fastening devices 42 which. pass through eyes at the ends of the bails through the flanges of. the plates 38, and edgewise through the stiles for securing together all the coacting parts. By this arrangement, the. bails can swing over the normally upper ends of the stiles crosswise of the notches .37

- cross bar portions of said bails are provided with offsets. or inwardly projecting bends 43 which because of the spring material from which the bails are made will have a certain amount of resiliency to permit them to be forced over the projections 36.

Like the step portion of the ladder, the brace 11 is made of two sections 44 and 45, each section including a pair of stiles 46 between which 7 are mounted a plurality-of bars 47, 48, 49, 50 and 51, all of which may be in the form of ladder rungs but one of them, as 49, is the cross bar forregistration with the sockets and component parts formed in the stiles of the upper section 44 identically the same as that described in connection with the step portion of the ladder and all of the other parts being identical, the same numerals will be used on similar parts-and by referenceto Fig. 4, in particular, it will be obvious that it is the ends of the rung or bar 43 that becomes the projections 36.

bracecan also be used as a ladder, but of a different type.

Since the cross bars in thebrace are consider,-

ably smaller in diameter than the widthof the stiles, the straps forming portions of the socket stems or the stem extensions of the socketsin the brace, the loop portions of said straps may be much shorter than those used-in connection with the step portion of the ladder. This is due to the fact that as soon as'the bar 49 is outside of the outer edge of the bar section 44, the bars'50 and 51 can be brought into contact with the outer edges of the stiles of saidupper brace section to bring the stiles of both sections into parallelism when one section is foldedupon the other as in Figs. 4 and 5. I e 3 In order to make the ladder exceedingly strong, all of the cross bars, whether used as rungs or otherwise, mayi-be fastenedby suitable securing means 52, such as boltspassing edgewise through the stiles and through the ends of thebars ;within the stiles.

Any suitablespreader may be used for holding the step portion and the bracein separatedposipivoted to the step portion as at,56 and the other pair pivoted to the brace as at 5'7, while adjacent ends of both pairs of leversgare pivoted on-a-rod 58 surrounded by; a sleeve '59. with springs 60 between theends of the sleeve and the levers of acontiguous pain In order to hold-the levers in an expanded condition against accidental'dise placement, onepair of the levers is provided with indentations 61 for engagement by projections 62 on the other pair of levers While the levers will remain expanded under ordinary or normal. conditions, a small amount of extra iorcewilldisengage the projections from the indentations and errnit the spr ader to be collapsed, thereby closingup the step portion and br-aceof the ladder relative toeach other. I

In Fig. 6, I have shown a modification of the invention adapting it to use'as a straight. ladder having steps and therefore is identical-with the steppo-rtion of the ladder illustrated in Figs. .1, 4 and 5, with the exception that the top or platform 12 is immovably fixed to the top section-inste'ad -o't said-top sectionleeing pivotally con-- ne'c'ztedito the platform or'top Theparts for making the ladder a 'foldable one-being identically the same as thosefused in" connection with the step portionof the step ladder, the same reference numeralsareapplied. l 5

A further modification is illustrated in-:Fig. '7, wherein rungs are u'sedin' place of the steps shown in the modification illustrated in Fig. 6, and therefore said modification-illustrated in *Fig. 7; is. similar to thebrace of'the step ladder shown in Fig. '1; with the exception that the top or platform is entirely eliminated, although. it will A be obvious that such platform. or top l could be utilized ifdesired and it is to be understood that 'where parts' are interchangeable on the diiferentiormssaid partscan be used or left off according :tothe desiresoit the person vbuilding onusing sucha ladder. J I I Since-the structure shown" in'Fig. I 7; is similar to the brace of. the step 'ladden the same-numerals are usedj to designate similar-parts and 'it' will 'be obvious to persons skilled in this art that-any number of rungs may be used in each of the sections and; that :the-rungs and stepsiare.

equivalents-wherever. they are used as supports for aperson climbingthe'ladder. '1' While-Ihave.illustrated the various forms of my inventionas embodying onlytwo sections in any foldable-element of aladden'it willbe readily -.-understoodlithat" additional sections may 'be added andi the construction and operation lWil].

be"the. same, .although the sections will have tofoldinzig'zagfashiong- Assuminghthat the ladder is iol'ded as :shown 7 in Figs; 4and5, and his desired to 'set the same up? for use 'or unfoldit tolplace it in a condition such as shown in:Fig'.:.L- then'the lower. sections are rotated and at the" same time movedlaterally:

until the-cross lbars 'or'rungs enclosed inithe sockets are moved into the heads of the sockets wh'eresaid bars-6r:rungs Will drop intothe lower until the cross bars or rungs within the sockets are seated in the upper endsof the socket heads and the projections 36 are seatedin the notches 37. The interengaging of the parts in this manner will prevent the sections of a ladder element from rotating relative to one another providing neither sectionis first moved longitudinally and in order to hold'the sections against longitudinal movement the bails are swungover the projections 36 thereby temporarily holding all of the sections together. Where theladder is of the step ladder type as shown in Fig. 1, the two elements 10 and 11 may now be held in outstretched condition as shown in Fig. 1, by properly manipulating the spreader 53 until in its fully extended condition.

Byreversing the operations above outlined for unfolding theladder or any ladder element, thesamemay be folded up into. a shape such as suggested by Figs. i and 5, although it is to be understood that where the ladder is of a form rotatably to permit said lower section to be 1 triangular shaped lip formed by partially severing exact. details of construction as herein shown, as

these may be varied within the'limitsof [the "appended claims-without departing from the spirits of 1:15 invention.

Having thus fully descrlbed my invention; what I claim 5 as new an'oluseful is 1. A folding-step ladder comprising a top, a 7 step portion and a brace'both pivoted to said, I

topand each including two sections, one sec- 'tionhaving T-shaped sockets,'-projections exable Within the sockets to permit longitudinal,

lateral and rotary movements of one section relative to the other, and bails pivotally. connected to saidiother section for swinging movement crossiwise ofthe notches for engagementwith the projections when the. latter are seated in thenotches,

said bails having offset portions for frictional'e'nga'gement. with the projections.

-72; The-structure set forth in claim 1, incombination with plates for strengthening the socketed portions of the ladderlsectio'ns and having cut away portions therein corresponding to the shape of said sockets, and other plates partially surroundingthe section of the ladder having notches Ltherein, said lastv named plates having cut away portionscorresponding in shape to the notches/7' i i 3.;Avladdercomprising an upper section consisting of stiles and steps, said stiles having T- socket stemsterminate with the space within the straps communicatingwith the stems of the sockets andforming extensions of said stems, a cross bar mounted in the stiles with their'endsextending beyond the-outer side faces thereof to form projections, a'lower section also consisting of; stiles and steps, said stiles having notches :in their normally upper ends for registration with the projections, a cross bar mounted in and extending between the stiles and embraced by the sockets and the'straps whereby said lower section may be moved longitudinally, laterally and positioned endwise relative .to the upper section or folded upon in parallelism to said upper section, and means fordisposition crosswise of the notches and for engagement with the projections 1 when the latter are seated in the notches to tem porarily hold the ladder sections against acci dental displacement.

' 4. The structure set forth in claim 3, in combination with'plates secured to the ends of the stiles in the region of the sockets, each of said 7,

apart of the panel from the upper portion of one of the flanges and bending saidpart of the panel outward along a diagonal line, andatop secured to the upper ends of the stiles of the upper section.

5. A ladder comprising an upper section consisting of stiles and rungs, said stiles having T- shaped sockets formed therein adjacent an end thereof with the stems or" said sockets opening to an edge of thestiles and with the heads runa ning longitudinally of the stiles so that the'longitudinal centers of said-heads are in imaginary lines intersecting the axes of all of the rungs and spaced from the next to the lowermost rung a distance substantially equal to the spacing between the several rungs, U-shaped straps secured to the same edges of the stiles where the socket stems are left open with the spaces within the straps communicating with the stems of said sockets and forming extensions of said stem, projections formed on the ends of the said nextlto the lowermost rung and extending beyond the outer side faces of the stiles, a lower section also consisting of stiles and rungs, one of said rungs beingsurrounded by the sockets and straps whereby said lower section may be moved longitudinal,- ly, laterally and rotatably to permit said lower section to be positioned endwise relative to the upper section or folded upon in parallelism to said upper section, the ends of the stiles adjacent the socketed rung having notches formed in the end edges thereof for registration with the projections, andmeans carried by the notched ends of the stiles of said lower ladder section for disposition crosswise of the notches and for engagement with the projections when the latter are seated in the notches to temporarily hold the ladder sections against accidental movement relative to one another.

6. A step ladder comprising a. top, a step portion and a brace both pivoted to said top and each including upper and lower sections, both of the sections of the ladder portion consisting of stiles and steps, a cross bar underlying one of the steps of the upper section of the step portion and mounted in the stiles with its ends protruding beyond the outer side faces to form projections, the stiles of the said upper section of the ladder portion. having T-shaped notches formed therein below another step, U-shaped straps secured to'edges of the stiles of said upper section of the ladder portion and forming extensions of the sockets beyond the edges of the stiles,

a cross bar mounted in the stiles of the lower section of the ladder portion and enclosed with,- in the sockets and straps to prevent separation of the sections while permitting the lower sectiontobe movedlongitudinally, laterally and rotatably relative to the upper section for folding and opening the sections relative to each other, the stiles of the lower section of said ladder portion having notches formed in their normally upper ends for registration with the projections, and means carried by said normally upper, ends of the stiles of said lower section of the ladder portion for engagement with the projections'to temporarily hold the sections against accidental movement relative to one another, bothof the sections of the brace-including stiles andrungs, the stiles of the upper section of'the brace having T-shaped sockets formed therein, U-shaped straps secured to edges of the stiles of the upper section of said brace and forming extensions of.

said sockets, said sockets andistraps embracing one of the rungs of the lower section ofzsaid brace whereby the two sections are permanently connected together and-the lower section is per mitted to be moved longitudinally, laterally and rotatably for opening and folding the sections :of said brace, projections formed by ends of one of the rungs in the upper section of the brace protruding beyond the outer side faces of the stiles, the stiles of the lower section having notches formed in the normally upperends" for registration with said projections, and means .carried by said normally upper ends of the stiles of the lower section for engagement with the projections to temporarily prevent accidental EDWARD BRESLOW.

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