GB2133827A - Frictionally stabilized loft ladders - Google Patents

Abstract

The ladder is pivotally mounted to loft opening 31, there being a fixed bracket 27 for each ladder stile, and a pivotal ladder support 26 having an interengaging component (45b, 61) through which a part of the respective ladder stile slides. The sliding movement is frictionally restrained so that the ladder will remain in any adjusted position thereby avoiding the necessity for interlocking catches. As the loft ladder is raised or lowered the frictional retaining means can hold it in any desired elevated position before or after swinging into the loft opening. The mounting may be a plastics clamping member with means for adjusting the frictional force. The ladder may comprise two sections 13 and 14. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to ladders The present invention relates generally to ladders, and particularly to storable ladders which can be mounted or attached to a structural support and moved between a stored position carried by the support and a use position erected or extended to stand against the support.

Storable ladders of this type are most commonly used as loft ladders where the structural support is a member defining an opening in a ceiling through which access is desired. The ladder is stored in the loft space lying horizontally and partly overlapping the opening, and can be moved to a position of use by applying a downward force to the projecting end allowing the ladder to be swung about its connection to the structural support and drawn until the feet of the stiles contact the floor. Loft ladders may be made as simple ladders or as compound ladders depending on the size of the opening and the available space in the loft for swinging the upper end of the ladder.It will be appreciated that in moving a loft ladder from its position of use where its upper end projects only minimally through the opening and the majority of the ladder is located between the opening and the subjacent floor, to its stored position, where, as described above, the ladder lies horizontally above the opening on the ceiling joists or loft floor with that end of the ladder which is lowermost in the use position projecting over the opening, the ladder passes through an intermediate position where it has been raised sufficiently high in approximately the same general line as that occupied during use with the majority of the ladder lying above the connection to the opening and that length of the ladder lying below the opening being no greater than the corresponding dimension of the opening to allow the ladder to swing down to its stored position without the lower end of the ladder fouling the side of the opening. The relative lengths of the ladder or ladder sections above and below the connection to the opening in this position are determined by the available space in the loft, the upper length of the ladder, the so called arc, being limited by the dimensions of the loft and the lower section being limited by the dimension of the opening.

Until now storable ladders of this type have been provided with locking means for retaining the ladder in the raised position and the position of this locking means has immutably determined the minimum loft opening size in which the ladder can be fitted as well as the minimum arc dimension which must be available in the loft.

Because of this, if a house does not have the right dimensions it has not until now been possible to fit a commercially available loft ladder thereto. The restriction imposed by a small loft opening has been particularly critical and attempts to overcome this problem have been made by providing alternative positions for the lock or cooperating abutment of the lock, but even this arrangement has not been entirely satisfactory in that only a relatively small number, for example three, different positions have been made available. The range of adjustment from only three different positions may not be sufficient to accommodate all variations in loft openings and arc dimension nor all combinations of such variations.Moreover, with a fixed locking system it is necessary for the user to dismantle part of the lock and re-position it in a different location on the ladder in order to accommodate dimensions different from those originally set upon assembly of the ladder. Since loft ladders are specifically adapted for fitting by the purchaser without requiring specialised artisan assistance it is sought to make these as simple as possible to fit and the present invention seeks therefore to provide a storable ladder in which a wide range of loft openings and arc dimensions can be accommodated without requiring any specific adjustment.

This is achieved, according to one aspect of the present invention, by a storable ladder having at least one ladder section, and mounting means for mounting the ladder to a fixed support member, in which the ladder is relatively movable in relation to the mounting means and movement between the ladder and the mounting means is frictionally resisted by frictional restraining means exerting a force great enough at least substantially to retain the ladder against gravity in any position to which it may be moved relative to the mounting means.

In this way the weight of the ladder is taken by the restraining force extended by the restraining means and erection or collapsing of the ladder to or from its position of use is achieved by displacing the ladder against this frictional restraining force. In the case of erecting the ladder this is achieved with the assistance of the weight of the ladder, whereas when collapsing the ladder the frictional force and the weight of the ladder both have to be overcome.

However, since storable ladders of this type are generally made of an extremely lightweight aluminium or aluminium alloy the force required to overcome both the frictional restraining force and the weight of the ladder is not great and well within the capability of the average person.

It is envisaged, moreover, that a mechanism allowing a unidirectional frictional force to be applied could be fitted so that the weight of the ladder is taken by a frictional force, which force is released if the ladder is lifted. Pulling the ladder down from its stored position is thus a simple matter and if the force applied to pull the ladder down is released at any stage the ladder will be retained by the frictional force. On the other hand, when it is desired to raise the ladder to its stored position only the weight of the ladder has to be borne by the user since the frictional restraining force is released upon movement towards the stored position.

The invention may also be applied to ladders other than storable ladders where frictional restraining of two or more ladder sections of a compound ladder would assist in erecting or collapsing such a ladder. Thus, according to a second aspect of the present invention, a compound ladder having two or more ladder sections is provided, in which the movement between an erected or extended position and a collapsed position is frictionally resisted by a restraining member exerting a frictional force which is great enough to retain the ladder sections in their relative positions against movement under gravity in any relative position to which the ladder sections are moved.

The frictional restraining force may be adjusted to accommodate variations in the individual ladders due, for example, to manufacturing tolerances or to wear, and there are preferably provided means for adjusting the frictional restraining force applied either between the ladder and the mounting means or between the ladder sections.

The mounting means itself is preferably so arranged that the frictional restraining force is applied between the ladder (or cooperating ladder section in the case of a compound ladder) and the mounting means.

The force may be applied directly between the ladder and the mounting means, or alternatively the force may be applied indirectly between the ladder and the mounting means. In this latter case the frictional restraining force may be applied to the ladder by a friction guide member carried by the mounting means and shaped so that a part of the ladder stile passes between cooperating parts of the friction guide member. The friction guide member may itself be made of a suitable frictionapplying material, or the member may be provided with friction brake inserts.

Preferably the arrangement is such that the frictional force applied between the ladder or cooperating ladder sections and the mounting means is adjustable.

If the arrangement is as outlined above such that a different frictional resistance is applied between the ladder or cooperating ladder section and the mounting means when the members move in one direction of relative movement from that applied when the members move in the opposite direction of relative movement, this may be achieved by means of a linear acting unidirectional clutch arrangement acting whereby substantially to reduce the frictional force applied between the ladder or cooperating ladder section and the mounting means when the ladder or ladder section is being raised against the action of gravity, and to increase the frictional force applied when it is being lowered under the action of or in the direction of the force applied by gravity.

In the presently preferred embodiment the friction guide member comprises two parts, each having an arm portion at or adjacent the end of which the respective parts are attached to the said mounting means, and a head portion shaped to correspond closely with a part of the stile crosssection received therein, the head portions being urged towards one another by clamping means constituting the said means for adjusting the frictional restraining force.

The stiles of the ladder may have a generally 1shaped cross-section comprising a central web spanning two generally parallel flanges extending transversely of the plane of the web, and the friction guide receives one of the transverse flanges and frictionally cooperates therewith.

The mounting means preferably comprise a separate respective mounting assembly for each stile of the ladder or cooperating ladder section, each assembly including a guide member for slidably guiding the cooperating stile, which guide member is pivotally connected to a fixing bracket adapted to be secured to a fixed support for the ladder.

According to a third aspect of the present invention a compound ladder has at least two ladder sections the stiles of which are made from generally I-section material comprising a central web spanning two generally parallel flanges extending substantially transversely the plane of the web, and one of the flanges of one of the ladder sections has a lip along each edge directed towards the lip on the other edge in such a way as to define a channel with a longitudinal slot capable of slidably receiving the flange of a cooperating ladder section whereby slidably to interengage the ladder sections over the whole of the overlapping lengths thereof.

By employing an I-section for the stiles it is possible to attach the rungs of the ladder securely to the webs of the stiles in a manner which lends rigidity to the structure and avoids the necessity for additional diagonal bracing struts. This may be achieved, for example, by using a double swaging operation upsetting the material of the rungs on either side of the web of the stile to retain the rung and stile in a predetermined relative orientation.

The mounting means as described above comprises a mounting bracket pivotally supporting a metal guide member through which a part of the stile of the ladder passes. Because metal-to-metal contact between the material of the ladder and the material of the guide can take place the sliding action is not entirely satisfactory and a certain degree of metal pick-up can take place which detracts from the ease with which the ladder can be moved with respect to the mounting means.

In another aspect, therefore, the present invention provides a storable ladder having at least one ladder section, and mounting means for mounting the ladder to a fixed support member, in which the ladder is slidably movable with respect to the mounting means and the mounting means comprise or includes a component in contact with the ladder capable of applying a frictional resistance to the relative displacement of the ladder and the mounting means sufficient to hold the weight of the ladder against gravity when the ladder is suspended from the mounting means.

In such an arrangement, the mounting means preferably include a guide for retaining the ladder thereon, which guide is substantially wholly composed of a material capable of allowing the ladder to slide with respect thereto whilst applying a frictional resistance to such movement.

For this purpose the mounting means may comprise a bracket for attachment to a fixed support structure and a guide member pivotally connected to the bracket and slidably engaged by the ladder. Such a guide member is preferably composed wholly of a plastics material. In such a structure, no metal-to-metal contact takes place between the ladder and the mounting means.

In a preferred embodiment the guide member comprises two elements each having an elongate channel for receiving a cooperating part or the ladder, and a boss through which passes the pivot mounting the guide member to the bracket, the bosses on the two elements facing one another in contact with the remaining parts of each element being spaced from one another. The elements may be linked by a further clamping bolt at a position spaced lengthwise of the channels from the bosses and adjustable to vary the clamping force between the two elements and the ladder to select the required frictional resistance to the movement of the ladder with respect to the mounting means.

The invention may be put into practice in various ways, but specific embodiments of the invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side view of a first embodiment illustrating the compound ladder in its collapsed and stored state; Figure 2 illustrates the compound ladder constituting the embodiment of Figure 1 in its extended state; Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line Ill-Ill of Figure 1; Figure 4 is an enlarged side view of a detail of Figure 2; Figure 5 is a scrap sectional view taken on the line V-V of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the invention; and Figure 7 is a sectional view on the line VIl-VIl of Figure 6.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to Figures 1 to 5 thereof, the compound ladder constituting the first embodiment of the present invention is generally indicated 11 and in this embodiment comprises two ladder sections, namely an upper ladder section 12 and a lower ladder section 1 3. Although illustrated as a twosection compound ladder the present invention is not so limited and the principles of the invention can be applied to a compound ladder having any practicable number of ladder sections. In particular, it is envisaged that a ladder having three sections may be employed where the lateral storage space and/or the available "arc" referred to above may be of limited dimensions.

Each ofthe ladder sections 12, 13 is composed of two parallel stiles of I-section extruded material, preferably aluminium or an aluminium alloy, the lower ladder section 13 comprising a web 14 with two transverse flanges 1 5, 16 which are similar to one another and laterally offset such as to extend to one side of the web 14 by a greater extent than the other. Again, embodiments of the invention may be constructed in which the flanges 15, 16 of the Isection material of which the stiles are made are symmetrical about a centre plane of the web.The I-section material from which the lower ladder section 1 3 is made is slightly different from that of the upper section 1 2. Like the upper section 12, the lower section 13 has a web 21 and an upper flange 18 which is substantially identical with the upper flange 16 on the web 14 of the upper ladder section 12.The lower ladder section 1 3 differs, however, in that the transverse flange 1 7 at the lower most edge of the web 21 has two inwardly facing lips or returns 1 9, 20 which together with the flange 1 7 define an open slot extending along the length of the lower ladder section 13 and in which the upper flange 1 6 of the upper ladder section 12 slides as the two sections of the compound ladder are moved relatively to one another between the collapsed position illustrated in Figure 1 and the extended or erected position illustrated in Figure 2.The choice of an I-section moulding or extrusion for the ladder stiles has the double advantage of providing a stiff lightweight material and facilitating the inter-connection of the upper and lower ladder sections in this simple and secure manner where previously known compound ladders of this type have had to rely on the interengagement of one ladder section with hooks or guides formed as separate elements and secured to the other ladder section. The ladder of the present invention thus achieves interconnection of the two ladder sections without requiring the additional operations of securing separate guide and locating hooks or members, and the upper and lower ladder sections are adapted for interengagement with one another without requiring further operations once the styles have been secured together with ladder rungs to form the two ladder sections.

Again, the particularly felicitous manner in which the rungs are fitted to the ladder stiles is made possible by the choice of an I-section material for the stiles. As can be seen in Figure 3 each rung 35 is of irregular trochoid shape having a longer curved face 22 constituting a tread, and two shorter curved faces 23, 24 meeting in a pronounced ridge 25 which gives the treat great stiffness.Whereas most prior art compound ladders have employed box-section stiles in order to achieve the required stiffness, the I-section stiles of the ladder of the present invention make it possible for the rungs 35 to be secured to the stiles by means of a simple double-swaging operation which is effected by passing a preliminarily cut length of rung material through an aperture such as the aperture 38 in the web 21, and upsetting the material on either side of the web 21 by application of a force transverse the plane of the web 21 and longitudinally of the rung 35 to create two retaining ridges 36, 37 of folded and compressed material which hold the rung 35 securely to the web of the stile and resist any tendency of the rung 35 to twist or rock in relation to the stile.

The compound ladder 11 is adapted to be mounted in a loft opening 31 as can be seen in Figures 1 and 2, and to be secured to a suitable structural member 30 defining part of the loft opening 31. Such structural member may, for example, be a transverse beam in a ceiling 32, two such beams 30, 33 defining parallel sides of the loft opening 31. The attachment of the compound ladder 11 to the structural member 30 is achieved by a mount 26 which comprises a fixing bracket 27 having two orthogonally oriented arms 27a, 27b for fitting to adjacent perpendicular faces of the structural member 30.

Each of the arms 27a, 27b has one or more holes therein for receiving fixing screws. The arms 27a, 27b extend from a body of the bracket 27 having an aperture housing a transverse pivot pin 28 borne in the bracket 27 by a bush 29. The pivot pin 28 also passes through and supports an arm 35 having an asymmetrical T-section comprising a web 40, a transverse flange 41 extending on either side of the web 40, and two inwardly turned lips 42, 43 defining an open slot for receiving the lower flange 15 of the upper ladder section 12 with a sliding fit allowing the upper ladder section to be slidably guided therethrough whilst being pivotally retained on the bracket 27 secured to the structural support 30.

At the end of the arm 39 is located a friction guide 44 which is composed of two separate parts 45, 46 clamped together by a bolt 47 engaging in a captive nut 48 located and retained in the part 45 of the friction guide. Each part of the friction guide has a head portion identified by the subscript b and an arm portion identified by the subscript a. The two head portions 45b, 46b of the two parts of the friction guide have respective grooves 51, 52 which receive the parts of the lower flange 1 5 of the upper ladder section 12 which are also guided by the slots defined by the lips 42, 43 of the T-section arm 39.

The arm portions 45a, 46a of the two parts of the friction guide are held together at their ends by the bolt 47 engaged in the nut 48, and the two head portions 45b, 46b are adjustable in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the web 40 of the arm 39 by means of a secondary clamping screw 49 engaged in a second captive nut 50.

The clamping screw 49 in the embodiment illustrated has a cheese-head with a slot for engagement by a conventional screw driver. In an alternative embodiment (not illustrated) this head is formed as an enlarged knurled hand wheel for direct manipulation by a user. By suitably adjusting the clamping force by which the two head portions 45h, 46b of the friction guide are drawn together by the clamping screw 49 the frictional resistance to movement of the upper ladder section 1 2 with respect to the mount 26 can be adjusted. Because the compound ladder is extremely light the frictional force required to retain it against gravity is not very great and the additional force required to overcome this applied frictional force in order to extend the ladder by pulling on it is well within the range of capability of an ordinary person.Likewise, even in the reverse direction, when it is desired to collapse the compound ladder the combined frictional resistance applied by the friction guide 44 and the weight of the two ladder sections is not so great as to require an excessive or onerous force to be applied by the user.

By provision of a friction retaining element in place of the previously used discrete locking members it is possible automatically to accommodate any range of dimensions for the opening 31 so that a single ladder can be provided which requires no adjustment or setting by the user when it is fitted. Indeed, the only fitting operations required of a user are the drilling and screwing of two or three holes into the structural support 30 for receiving the screws passing through the arms 27a, 27b of the mounting bracket 27. Having done this the compound ladder is immediately ready for use and the size of the opening 31 will determine how far the ladder has to be pushed along the guide provided by the mounting arm 39 in order for the lower part of the ladder to be free to swing through the opening as the ladder moves from its erected to its collapsed position.

To provide complete security in climbing the ladder a hand rail 34 is fitted to one of the stiles of the upper ladder section 12 and, indeed, a second similar hand rail may be provided on the other stile if required. The ends of the ladder sections are covered and protected by suitable end caps 56, 57 made of shaped plastics mouldings which are clipped into position and cover the otherwise sharp edges and projections of the I-section stiles.

Finally, a retaining catch 53 is provided at the lower end of the upper ladder section 1 2 for retaining the lower ladder section 13 in its fully extended or fully collapsed positions respectively.

For this purpose the flange 1 7 is provided with two apertures 54, 55 the first adjacent the upper end of the lower ladder section 1 3 and the second adjacent the lower end thereof. This catch has a suitable shape to be engaged manually by a user to release the interengagement between the upper and lower ladder sections and allow collapsing or extension movements to be performed.

It is to be noted that by providing a single bolted connection between the friction guide 44 and the arm 39 of the mounting assembly 26 the friction guide is fully floating with respect to the guide track offered by the mounting 26 so that small variations introduced by manufacturing tolerances can be accommodated without requiring any adjustment upon assembly.

In use, once the screws fitting the arms 27a, 27b of the mounting bracket 27 to the structural support 30 have been inserted, and assuming that the ladder has been erected to the position illustrated in Figure 2 in order to locate the mounting bracket in position, it is only necessary to release the catch 53 and by grasping any of the rungs 35 of the lower ladder section 1 3 raise this until the aperture 55 in the flange 17 at the lower end of the lower ladder section 1 3 comes into register with a nose (not illustrated) of the catch 53 whereby this automatically engages.Further raising of the ladder will now cause both ladder sections to move in unison with respect to the mounting assembly 26 until it is judged that.the remaining dependent portion of the compound ladder is sufficiently short to clear the opposite side member 33 of the opening 31 when the ladder is released, the upper projecting section of the compound ladder being the longer of the two will, of course, automatically cause a turning moment about the pivot 28 in an anti-clockwise direction.

Various alternative structures for the friction guide are envisaged. Although described as separate assembly secured to the single member constituting the arm of the mount 26, it would be possible for the arm 26 to be made not from a casting or moulding, but from folded sheet metal, in which case the arms of the friction guide 44 identified in the drawings by the reference numerals 45a, 46a could be integrally formed with the arm 39 of the support assembly, together with the heads 45b, 46b whilst the friction material could be provided as pads received in the heads and therefore readily replaceable.

In the second embodiment illustrated in Figures 6 and 7, the mounting assembly shown is adapted to receive one of the two stiles of a ladder having I-section stiles and it is to be understood that a similar, but oppositely handed, mounting assembly will be provided for the other stile of the ladder.

This mounting assembly is generally indicated with the reference numeral 60 and comprises a bracket portion 27 and a guide portion 61. The bracket portion 27 has two orthogonal arms 27a, 27b and a transversely extending pivot 28 housed in a bush 29 of the bracket 27. The guide portion 61 is composed of two oppositely handed but otherwise identical elements, and one only of these will be described. This comprises a major plate portion 62 having a major face 63 directed towards the other of the two elements. Along one edge of the major plate portion 62 is a generally U-section channel portion 64 having two arms 64a, 64b separating a longitudinal channel 65 lying parallel to the adjacent edge of the plate portion 62.The two channels 65 in the two facing major faces 63 of the elements 61 define a transverse slot for receiving the transverse flange at one edge of an I-section stile of a ladder. The major plate portions 62 each have an aperture 69 surrounded by a boss 67 on the major face 63 thereof. Through the apertures 69 passes the pivot 28 thereby pivotally securing the guide 60 to the bracket 27. The thickness of the bosses 67 determines the basic separation of the two elements 61 and consequently the transverse width of the slot defined by the two channels 65.

A further aperture 66 in the major plate portion 62 of each element 61 receives a bolt 67 clamped by a nut 68. This clamping nut and bolt arrangement allows adjustments to be made to the transverse slot width at the ends of the element 61 remote from the pivot 28 thereby varying the clamping force exerted between the guide 60 and the stile of a ladder passing through the slot defined by the channels 65. The two elements 61 are conveniently made of suitable plastics material, such as nylon, which allows the ladder to slide smoothly but is capable of applying sufficient frictional resistance when suitably clamped by the nut and bolt 67, 68.

Claims (24)

Claims

1. A storable ladder having at least one ladder section, and mounting means for mounting the ladder to a fixed support member in which the ladder is relatively movable in relation to the mounting means and movement between the ladder and the mounting means is frictionally resisted by frictional restraining means exerting a force great enough at least substantially to retain the ladder against gravity in any position to which it may be moved relative to the mounting means.

2. A storable ladder as claimed in Claim 1, in which there are provided means for adjusting the frictional restraining force between the ladder and the mounting means.

3. A storable ladder as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the mounting means itself is so arranged that the frictional restraining force is applied between the ladder (or cooperating ladder section in the case of a compound ladder) and the mounting means.

4. A storable ladder as claimed in Claim 3, in which the frictional restraining force is applied directly between the ladder or ladder sections and the mounting means.

5. A storable ladder as claimed in Claim 3, in which the frictional restraining force is applied indirectly between the ladder or ladder section and the mounting means,

6. A storable ladder as claimed in Claim 5, in which the frictional restraining force is applied to the ladder by a friction guide member carried by the mounting means and shaped so that a part of the ladder stile passes between cooperating parts of the friction guide member.

7. A storable ladder as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the mounting means or a friction guide member carried thereby is provided with frictional brake inserts for applying the said resistive force.

8. A storable ladder as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the frictional force applied between the ladder or cooperating ladder section and the mounting means is adjustable.

9. A storable ladder as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which a different frictional resistance is applied between the ladder or cooperating ladder section and the mounting means when the members move in one direction of relative movement from that applied when the members move in the opposite direction of relative movement.

1 0. A storable ladder as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which a linear acting unidirectional clutch arrangement is provided which acts whereby substantially to reduce the frictional force applied between the ladder or cooperating ladder section and the mounting means when the ladder or ladder section is being raised against the action of gravity, and to increase the frictional force applied when it is being lowered under the action of or in the direction of the force applied by gravity.

11. A storable ladder as claimed in Claim 6 or Claim 7, in which the friction guide member comprises two parts, each having an arm portion at or adjacent the end of which the respective parts are attached to the said mounting means and a head portion shaped to correspond closely with a part of the stile cross-section received therein, the head portions being urged towards one another by clamping means constituting the said means for adjusting the frictional restraining force.

12. A storable ladder as claimed in any of Claims 6 to 11, in which the stiles of the ladder have a generally I-shape cross-section comprising a central web spanning two generally parallel flanges extending transversely of the plane of the web and the friction guide member receives one of the transverse flanges and frictionally cooperates therewith.

13. A storable ladder as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the mounting means comprise a separate respective mounting assembly for each stile of the ladder or cooperating ladder section, each assembly including a guide member for slidably guiding the cooperating stile, which guide member is pivotally connected to a fixing bracket adapted to be secured to a fixed support for the ladder.

14. A compound ladder having two or more ladder sections, in which the movement between an erected or extended position and a collapsed position is frictionally resisted by a restraining member exerting a frictional force which is great enough to retain the ladder sections in their relative positions against movement under gravity in any relative position to which the ladder sections are moved.

15. A compound ladder having at least two ladder sections, the stiles of which are made from generally I-section material comprising a central web spanning two generally parallel flanges extending substantially transversely of the plane of the web, in which one of the flanges of one of the ladder sections has a lip along each edge directed towards the lip on the other edge in such a way as to define a channel with a longitudinal slot capable of slidable receiving the flange of a cooperating ladder section whereby slidably to interengage the ladder sections over the whole of the overlapping lengths thereof.

16. A compound ladder as claimed in Claim 15, in which the rungs of the ladder are rigidly secured to the webs of the I-section stiles.

1 7. A storable ladder having at least one ladder section, and mounting means for mounting the ladder to a fixed support member, in which the ladder is slidably movable with respect to the mounting means and the mounting means comprise or includes a component in contact with the ladder capable of applying a frictional resistance to the relative displacement of the ladder and the mounting means sufficient to hold the weight of the ladder against gravity when the ladder is suspended from the mounting means.

18. A storable ladder as claimed in Claim 17, in which the mounting means include a guide for retaining the ladder thereon, which guide is substantially wholly composed of a material capable of allowing the ladder to slide with respect thereto whilst applying a frictional resistance to such movement.

1 9. A storable ladder as claimed in Claim 1 7 or Claim 18, in which the mounting means comprise a bracket for attachment to a fixed support structure and a guide member pivotally connected to the bracket and slidably engaged by the ladder.

20. A storable ladder as claimed in Claim 19, in which the guide member is composed wholly of a plastics material.

21. A storable ladder as claimed in Claim 19 or Claim 20, in which the guide member comprises two elements each having an elongate channel for receiving a cooperating part of the ladder, and a boss through which passes the pivot mounting the guide member to the bracket, the bosses on the two elements facing one another in contact with the remaining parts of each element being spaced from one another.

22. A storable ladder as claimed in Claim 21, in which the elements are linked by a further clamping bolt at a position spaced lengthwise of the channels from the bosses and adjustable to vary the clamping force between the two elements and the ladder to select the required frictional resistance to the movement of the ladder with respect to the mounting means.

23. A compound ladder substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

24. A loft ladder substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.