GB2429686A

GB2429686A - Ladder with safety load lifting arrangement

Info

Publication number: GB2429686A
Application number: GB0616836A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Neil Ernest Baglin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-08-31
Filing date: 2006-08-25
Publication date: 2007-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 2026-08-25
Also published as: GB0616836D0; GB2429686B

Abstract

In an arrangement for facilitating safer usage of a ladder (22) the upper end of the ladder is provided with a ladder stand-off attachment/facility (1) associated with a pulley system (24-30) for facilitating the handling of loads when utilising the ladder. A ladder bottom stabiliser system (Fig. 3) is provided for the bottom of the ladder, is readily mountable to the styles of the ladder. The stabiliser system includes, for each style, a stabiliser bar movable between a stowed position and a user position.

Description

ARRANGEMENTS FOR FACILITATING SAFER USAGE OF LADDERS

This invention relates to means for facilitating the safe using of ladders.

Basically, a ladder can be regarded as incorporating two parallel elongate members commonly known a styles maintained in secure spaced apart relation ships by a plurality of regularly spaced apart bars known as rungs.

It is extremely well known to use ladders by leaning them against the wall of a building for the purposes of raising a load such as, for example, a replacement window frame, a replacement window or other forms of load such as bags of cement, tools, lengths of timber, sheets of wood or other materials, bricks etc., from ground level to an elevated position and/or from an elevated position to a higher position.

in practice, the use of a ladder for such purposes, as is well known, frequently results in accidents happening which arise from for a wide variety of reasons including ladder instability arising from imperfect contact between the upper end 1 of the ladder against the wall against which it leans, and contact between the lower end and the ground or other surface upon which the ladder stands..

In view of the many accidents that are known to occur each year governmental regulations are issued, such regulations being directed to highlighting user safety during the usage of ladders defining the manner of such ladder usage usage and in particular setting modes of handling of loads whilst mounting a ladder and whilst standing upon a ladder have been produced. Such regulations are intended to be followed by all ladder users.

Unfortunately, in spite of the production of numerous official regulations and edicts relating to ladder usage many users of ladders fail to take note of them for a myriad of reasons.

Jn practice, accidents tend frequently to arise with single operators by their failure to realise that the upper end of the ladder is not satisfactorily resting against a supporting wail or the like and/or the lower end is not adequately set into the user position..

In other situations, the load itself may be inadequately and/or incorrectly supported thereby resulting in the operator not having a hand available at all times to enable the operator to be able to hold onto the ladder stile whilst mounting and/or whilst handling the load when at the elevated position.

In relation to the manner in which a ladder rests against the wall it is well known 1 0 that it is not necessarily safe to rely solely upon the upper ends of the styles providing the sole contact between the ladder and the wall. It is convenient to note that ladder usage relying solely on the style ends to bear against a supporting wall not infrequently results in the wearing away of the style ends in a manner that reduces possible ladder contact with a wall.

In dealing with this particular situation it is known to provide means for mounting to the tops of the styles of a single length ladder or of the uppermost section of a multi-section ladder which serves to hold the uppermost ends of the ladder from direct contact with a supporting wall. One such means includes a wall engaging bar that is conventionally of a length that is greater than the overall ladder width, thereby providing a more stable engagement of the ladder attachment and the supporting surface.

In this specification such means for mounting to the upper end of a ladder to provide a more stable engagement will be termed a ladder stand- off attachmentlfacij ily.

It is an object of the present invention to provide arrangements for facilitating the safety of ladder and load usage.

Broadly, according to a first aspect of the invention the present invention the upper end of a ladder is provided with a ladder stand-off attachment/facility including means for facilitating the handling of loads when utilising the ladder provided with the ladder standof'fattachmentlfacility.

Preferably, the means for facilitating the handling of loads incorporates a pulley system In a preferred assembly, the means for facilitating load handling includes first locating means for enabling attachment of one end of a rope at one side of the ladder and thus the stand-off attachment/facility, and second locating means 1 0 positioned adjacent the other side of the ladder and thus the stand- off attachment for providing a guide for the rope in such manner that on suspension of a load from that part of the rope located between the first and second locating means, the load can be raised or lowered by displacing the rope though the second locating means.

1 5 Preferably the second locating means includes a pulley system through which the displaceable hanging portion of the rope passes.

In a preferred arrangement a multi-use load handling assembly for facilitating the handling/raising of various forms of load/sizes when utilising a ladder, includes support assembly incorporating a rope, cable, line or the like pulley system in which one end of the rope, cable, line or the like is attached to a connection point located adjacent the upper end of one style of the ladder, a first pulley located adjacent the upper end of the other style of the ladder, a rope locking arrangement provided on said other style for co-operating with the rope at a location lower than the first pulley and means supported by that part of the rope, between the first and second locations for connection with a load to be supported, raised or lowered relative to said connection point..

Conveniently, the pulley system is such that the system provides a mechanical advantage whereby a load having a weight in excess (but within general safety limits) of a load weight permitted directly to be carried by a person up a ladder may be raised., In a preferred arrangement said means to which a load is to be connected comprises a further pulley whereby when the rope is displaced though the second location pulley the combination of the pulleys provides a mechanical advantage whereby an operator feels' half of the weight of the load when handling the rope, In accordance with a further feature of the invention the portion of the rope downstream of the second location engages with a rope locking clutch unit the latter being mounted to one of the styles of the ladder at a location spaced from the upper end of the ladder.

1 Conveniently, the locking clutch unit is so located as to be operable for rope release purposes at a position at which a person would be standing when working at the upper end of the ladder.

If desired, a ladder provided with the stand-off attachment and load handling facilities of the invention can be provided with a ladder bottom stabiliser.

in the use of ladders it is important that attention is provided to the siting and stabilisation of the bottom of the ladder Historically it has been an extremely general practice for a person to use a ladder by merely leaning the ladder up against a wall at an inclination angle that is a considered to be an appropriate angle having regard to the nature of the adjacent terrain and the nature of the surface against which the upper end of the ladder rests.

Having thus positioned the ladder the user has historically has mounted the ladder to carry out what ever action he desires i.e., for example, to paint a surface, to raise a load to an elevated level, or to repoint spaces between adjacent bricks.

Since the mounting and working from the ladder erected as above indicated has resulted in very many accidents arising from the movements of person whilst working from a ladder causing unexpected displacement of the base of the ladder at times resulting in the collapse of the ladder and invariably injury/death to the user official regulations have from time to time been formulated setting out specific requirements designed to reduce the risk of ladder displacement.

A long standing and common form of regulation requires that whenever a person is operating from a ladder the bottom of the ladder must be physically prevented from movement.

Briefly, the requirements have specified that either the bottom of the ladder must be anchored by a second person positioned adjacent to the base of the ladder or by 1 5 staking the ladder bottom at the position to which it has been placed.

Idealistically, such regulations would at first sight serve adequately to deal with the matter.

Unfortunately in practice when the ladder is intended to be held in place by a second person it has been found that, situations arise which militate against the use of a second person, such as the availability of a second person, the economic costs of providing a second person, and other related matters such as even where a second person is available the reliability of such second person can be suspect since it is impossible to ensure that this second person is not distracted or temporarily not actually restricting possible displacements of the ladder base. In practice, a common failure of the reliance on a second person arises when the person on the ladder asks the second person to fetch a tool or other item necessitating the second person to move away from the ladder It is a further object of the present invention to at least reduce the risk of accidents arising during the usage of ladders as a result of inadequate attention to securely stabilising the bottom of a ladder.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention the ladder is provided with a readily mountable stabiliser system adapted for mounting to the styles of the ladder, wherein the stabiliser unit includes a stabiliser member movable between a stowed position and a user position.

1 0 In accordance with a still further aspect of the invention a stabiliser system for attachment to the styles of a ladder, in which the system includes a bars connectable with lower ends of the styles of the ladder, the arrangement being such that when the system is mounted to the styles, each bar is movable relative to its associated mounting means between a stowed setting extending generally 1 lengthways of the style and an in use setting in which the bar projects from the style to a style stabilising position, and means for retaining the bar in said in use settings.

Conveniently, the retaining means is also arranged to retain the bar in its stowed setting Tn a preferred construction the stabilising bar is provided at the end connecting with the attachment/mounting means with a face plate adapted to engage a corresponding face plate provided on the attachment/mounting member to enable relative rotation.

Preferably means are provided or locking the two plates against relative movement when the bar is in its stabilising position.

Conveniently, the locking means is also enabled to lock the bar against movement when the bar is in its stowed position.

Conveniently the locking means includes a resiliently loaded pin mounted to the face plate and adapted to engage a bore provided in the plate on the attachment when the bar is in us stabilising position.

Preferably, the pin as arranged to engage with a second bore when the bar is in its stowed position thereby to retain the bar in its stowed positioned throughout the general handling of the ladder.

In a preferred construction the attachmentlmounting means includes a guide portion that is able to engage over the side and front and rear surfaces of the associated style in the manner of a slide fitting on the style, and a manually operatable element whereby the bracket can be locked to the style at a location appropriate to the require position for the free end/foot of the stabilising bar.

Conveniently, in order to enable the guide portion to be mountable to differently 1 5 dimensioned styles adapter elements each appropriate to a particular dimensional configuration for a style are provide for mounting to the guide as appropriate.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how to carry the same into effect reference will now be made to the accompanying drawing which schematically illustrates safety aids incorporating the concepts of the invention in which:.

Figure 1 schematically illustrates a stand-off attachment; Figure 2 schematically illustrates the stand-off attachment when mounted to a ladder and incorporating a load handling facility and Figure 3 schematically illustrates an embodiment of a ladder stabiliser.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2 a stand-off attachment 1 for mounting to the upper end of a ladder Figure 2) includes a main elongate bar 2 provided at each end region 3 thereof with a tubular wall engaging sleeve 4 that provides enhanced contact between a ladder to which the stand-off attachment I is mounted and a wall or other surface against which the top of the ladder ladder is to rest. These sleeves 4 may be formed from an anti-slip rubber or plastics The attachment includes two ladder engaging brackets 5 and 6. Each bracket includes a channel shaped element 7 that is intended to engage with the outer surfaces of the upper end of the associated style of the ladder, the element having a base 8 that is intended to abut the side of a ladder style, and two walls 9 that are intended to about the front and rear surfaces of a ladder style. The channel shaped element 7 is supported from the elongate bar 2 by way of a length of right angled cross section bar 10 in such manner that an end 11 of one wall 12 of the bar 10 1 closes off the upper end of the channel element 7 with the other wall 13 of the angle bar 10 secured to the base 8 of the channel element by a screw or by welding.

The other end 15 of each bar 10 is firmly secured to the main elongate bar 2 by, for example, welding.

It will be understood that the two bars 10 are parallel to each other and that their separation is such that the channel members can snugly engage with the upper ends of the styles of the ladder.

The connection between the channel members 7 and the bars 10 can be such that the respective longitudinal directions are at right angles to each other or an angle related to the normal angle of inclination of a ladder when in use.

It is convenient to note that present day metal i.e., aluminium ladders comprise hollow styles and hollow treads for purposes of strength and lightness in weight.

Each channel member 7 is of such length that a bore 16 provided in the base thereof aligns with the ends of the uppermost hollow rung of the ladder to which it is to be mounted. The stand-off attachment/facility is secured in place by a retaining pin/rod (not shown) that passed through the upper rung.

As so far descried the attachment serves solely for ladder stand-off purposes.

However, in accordance with the aspects/proposals of the invention the stand-off attachment/facility is adapted to provide an arrangement for facilitating for the 1 0 handling of loads by a person/operator working from the ladder or from the ground level..

To this end the bracket member 5 is provided with a rope end attachment ring or the like 17. As shown in Figure 1 the ring 17 connects with a support piece 18 depending from the wall 9 of the associated channel member 7 in such position 1 that it is readily possible to engage a rope end with the ring 17.

The bracket member 6 is provided with a rope guide pulley unit 18 including a pulley wheel 19 carried by a pulley yoke 20 suspended from a support piece 21 depending from the wall 9 of the associated channel member. The dimensions and form of the support piece is such as to ensure that there is adequate clearance between ladder end and the the pulley wheel 19 and its yoke 20 to allow easy engagement by a rope.

Conveniently, the yoke member 20 is pivotally mounted to its support piece 21 to allow the axis of rotation of the pulley wheel to adjust to operational conditions.

Referring now to Figure 2 this Figure illustrates the ladder stand-off attachmentlfacility I when mounted to a ladder 22 having style 23 and rungs 24.

As is shown in the Figure 2 in use one end of a rope 25 is secured to the ring 17 and the rope is engaged with the pulley wheel 19 thereby establishing a downwards directed depending loop 26 in the rope between the ring 17 and the pulley wheel 19.

A second pulley wheel 27 is rotatably mounted in a pulley yoke 28 is suspended from the loop 26, such that the yoke 28 hangs downwards.

A load suspension hook or other suspension means 29 to which a load may be atiached depends from the yoke 28.

With this arrangement when the rope 25 is displaced through the pulley wheel 19 provided upon the stand-off attachment/facility relative movement is produced between the rope 25 and both pulley wheels 19 and 27. Shortening of the loop 26 is indicative of raising the load relative to the ladder stand-off attachment/facility 1 5 1 and thus the ground, whilst increase of the length of the loop 26 is indicative of lowering a load.

A consequence of the use of two pulley wheels 19 and 27 is that when a person is pulling on the free hanging part 25A of the rope only feels a resistance to the lifting force exerted that is equivalent to half of the weight of the load.

In other words the provision of the two pulley wheels produces an effective mechanical advantage.

As a further feature of the invention a rope displacement clutch 30 is attached to the ladder whereby the clutch is engaged by the hanging portion 25A of the rope the clutch 30 provides a safety device which can arrest further movement of the rope through the pulley wheels 19 and 27. This rope clutch 30 thus provides a safety mechanism particularly during the lifting of a load in the event that if the pull being exerted upon the rope 25 to produce load lift ceases would in the absence of the clutch allow the rope to run freely through the pulley wheels 19 and 27 and thus effectively resulting in the dropping of the load.

The rope clutch 30 is conveniently such that it is attachable to the ladder 22 by means of a pin or rod (not shown) passing through one of the rungs 24 of the ladder.

With this arrangement the clutch 30 can be attached to the ladder at any convenient height relative to the stand-off attachment/facility.

In practice, an operator is able to use the load handling arrangements as above disclosed whilst standing on the ground or whilst he is standing on the ladder.

Bearing in mind that it is an official requirement that at all times a person working from a ladder must be able to maintain three points of contact with the ladder, For example, the contact points could be two feet and one hand when actually carrying out an operatiàn whilst standing on the ladder or when climbing or descending a ladder maintaining two hands and one foot or one hand and two feet in contact with the ladder.

The above discussed arrangements enable the requisite three point engagement with the ladder whilst handling the rope by reason of the provision of the safety clutch 30.

In situations where an operator is relatively high on the ladder the clutch mechanism can be re positioned at a location more appropriate to the working level involved.

With this arrangement the operator can mount the ladder 22 to a required level and the exert pull on the rope ladder whilst standing with both feet on the ladder and with his arms linking with a ladder style 23 to posilionally adjust the load to a specifically required setting.

It will be appreciated that the load handling pulley system could be used with ladders independently of the provision of a stand-off facility. The major requirement is adequate clearance adjacent to rope end mounting and the first pulley to allow free displacement of the rope together with a firm connection between the ladder and the elements of the rope handling equipment.

If desired a ladder provided with the stand-off attachment and load handling facilities of the invention can be provided with a ladder bottom stabiliser- Referring to Figure 3 of the drawings a system/unit 4 includes a main attachment member 42 adapted for mounting to a style 43 of a conventional ladder 44.

The ladder 44 is a conventional aluminium construction incorporating two styles 1 5 43 which as is conventional are formed from aluminium tubing of rectangular cross section having inner and outer main faces 45 and 46 and end faces 47 and 48, the styles are bridged by a plurality of treads 49.

The main attachment 42 includes a channel shaped guide member 50 having a main face 51 and L-shaped end strips 52. Each end strip 52 provides a first portion 53 that is transverse to the main face 51 and a second portion 54 extending from the portion 53 to lie transverse to the first portion 53 and parallel to the main face 51.

With this configuration the two strips 52 in conjunction with the main face 15 provides a generally U-shaped guide channel which can only be mounted to a style Iengthways from an end thereof and which once engaged effectively remains mounted to the style for slidably displacement lengthways of the style.

The guide member 50 is securable in a required position on the style by a screw threaded locking nut arrangement 55.

The stabilising unit I includes as a stabilising member a bar 56 that is secured at one end, for example by welding, to a mounting plate 57 that is rotatably mounted to a second mounting plate 58 secured, for example, by welding to the main face 51 of the guide member 50..

As it will be noted from the drawing the stabilising bar 56 extends from the plate 15 perpendicular to the axis of rotation thereof and that the free end region of the bar is transverse to the main part of the part. Thus the bar can conveniently be regarded as being L-shaped.

The connection between the plates 57 and 58 is such that the plate 57 can be rotated relative to the plate 58 between a setting in which it is in line with the 1 5 ladder 44 and a setting in which it is set substantially transverse to the length of the latter as is schematically indicated in the drawing.

The plates 57 and 58 are positionally lockable relative to each other by means of a resiliently loaded locking pin/catch member 59 mounted to the plate 57 and arranged to be engageable with at least one locating bore 60 (in the Figure only one such bore is indicated) The bore 60 illustrated is in a position that defines the setting for the bar 56 when set to its stabilising position.

If desired a further bore 60 can be so located as to define the stowed position for the bar 56.

In practice, as is shown in the Figure 3 of the drawings the plates 57 and 58 are circular. This shaping provides the advantage of avoiding parts of the plates projecting relative to each other as would be the case with non-circular forms for the plates 57 and 58.

In use the attachment member 50 is engaged over the associated style from the lower end thereof and the bar 56 is set to its stowed position.

Once fitted the locking nut arrangement 55 is tightened to retain the unit 41 on the ladder style.

When it is required to use the ladder the latter is raised in the conventional manner against, for example a wall, and is adjusted (if lengthways adjustable to a required length). After which the stabiliser arm is moved and set to its slabilising position by releasing the arm from its stowed setting and rotating the arm downwards to the position in which the arm can be locked by the pin 59 engaging the bore 60 whereby the arm 46 is locked in its stabilising setting. It will be noted that the free end of the bar extends transverse to main part of the bar.

The locking arrangement 55 is operated to allow the unit to be displaced lengthways with respect to the ladder style 43 so as to position the unit such that the free end of the bar 56 firmly co-operates with the ground/terrain adjacent to the ladder. The locking arrangement 55 is then tightened so as to lock the unit to the ladder style.

This procedure is repeated for each style of the ladder.

Once both stabiliser arms have been set into position a work person may mount the ladder.

When no further use of the ladder is required and it needs to be removed from its raised position the stabiliser arm 15 is returned to the stowed position by operating the pin 59 firstly to release the arm plate and secondly to retain the arm in its stowed position.

Claims

I Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder, wherein the upper end of the ladder is provided with a ladder stand-off attachment/facility associated with means for facilitating the handling of toads when utilising the ladder
2 Arrangements for facilitating safer sage of a ladder, as claimed in claim I, and wherein the means for facilitating the handling of loads incorporates a pulley system
3. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in claim I or 2, wherein the means for facilitating load handling includes first locating means for enabling attachment of one end of a rope at one side of the upper end of the ladder or the stand-off attachment/facility, a second locating means positioned adjacent the other side of the upper end of the ladder or the stand-off attachment/facility for providing a guide for the rope in such manner that on suspension of a load from that part of the rope located between the first and 1 5 second locating means the load can be raised or lowered by displacing the rope though the second locating means.
4 Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in claim 3, and wherein the second locating means includes a pulley system through which the displaceable portion of the rope passes.
5. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in claim 3 or 4, and wherein the portion of the rope downstream of the second location engages with a rope locking clutch unit the latter being mounted to one of the styles of the ladder at a location spaced from the upper end of the ladder.
6. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in claim 5, and wherein, the locking clutch unit is so located as to be operable for rope release purposes at a position at which a person would be standing when working at the upper end of the ladder.
7. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in any one of claims I to 6, and including a ladder bottom stabiliser system.
8. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in claim 7, wherein the ladder bottom stabiliser system is a readily mountable to the styles of the ladder and wherein the stabiliser system includes for each style a stabiliser member movable between a stowed position and a user position.
9. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed claim 8, and wherein the siabiliser includes for each ladder style a channel shaped guide member mountable to the ladder from the end thereof and of such form that once engaged effectively remains mounted to the style for displacement lengthways of 1 5 the style, and wherein means are provided for securing the bracket to the style.
10. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in claim 9, and wherein a stabiliser member is rotatably mounted to the bracket for displacement between the stowed position directed lengthways of the bracket and style, and a use position in which the member projects away from the plane of the ladder..
11. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in claim 10, and wherein the stabiliser member includes a bar connected at one end to a first mounting plate rotatably supported from a second mounting plate that is itself mounted to the bracket and wherein means are provided for locking the bar in its stowed and use positions.
12. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in claim 11, wherein the bar is L-shaped and includes a main part connected at its end to the first mounting plate, and wherein the free end region of the bar is directed transverse to the main part.
13 Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in claim 12, wherein when the ladder bottom stabiliser system is mounted to the styles, each bar is movable relative to its associated mounting means between a stowed setting extending generally lengthways of the style and an in use setting in which the bar projects from the style to a style stabilising position, and means for retaining the 1 0 bar in said in use settings.
14. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in claim 13, and wherein the the locking means includes a resiliently loaded pin mounted to the first mounting plate and adapted to engage a bore provided in the plate on the attachment when the bar is in its stabilising position.
15. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a ladder as claimed in claim 14 and wherein the pin as arranged to engage with a second bore when the bar is in its stowed position thereby to retain the bar in its stowed positioned throughout the general handling of the ladder.
16. Arrangements for facilitating safer usage of a substantially as herein before described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 or Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.