GB2438071A

GB2438071A - Ladder stabilising device

Info

Publication number: GB2438071A
Application number: GB0708877A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Edward Cooper
Original assignee: Burton Wire & Tube Co Ltd; MIDLAND ROAD INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
Current assignee: Burton Wire & Tube Co Ltd; MIDLAND ROAD INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
Priority date: 2006-05-11
Filing date: 2007-05-09
Publication date: 2007-11-14
Also published as: GB0609282D0; GB0708877D0; GB2438071A8

Abstract

A ladder stabilising device 10 comprises a support member 14 including first end 16 pivotally attachable to a ladder 12 and a second end 18 co-operable with the ground. The ladder stablising device 10 also includes a retaining member 34 including a first end 36 co-operable with the ladder 12 and a second end 38 co-operable with the support member 14 to maintain the support member 14 in a selected position, in use, relative to the ladder 12.

Description

I

Ladder Stabilisina Device The present invention relates to a ladder stabilising device.

Due to the desirability to prevent slippage and/or toppling of ladders and consequent injury to ladder users, ladder stabilising devices can be used to improve ladder stability and, hence, safety. Ladder slippage and toppling continue, however, to be a problem.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ladder stabilising device comprising: a support member including a first end pivotally attachable to a ladder and a second end co-operable with the ground; and a retaining member including a first end co-operable with the ladder and a second end co-operable with the support member to maintain the support member in a selected position, in use, relative to the ladder.

The first end of the support member may be pivotally attachable to a stile of a ladder.

The support member may be extendible. The support member may be telescopically extendible. The ladder stabilising device may include a securing arrangement to secure the support member in a selected extended position.

The support member may include a first elongate support portion and the first end of the support member may be defined by one end of the first elongate support portion. The support member may include a second elongate support portion and the second end of the support member may be defined by one end of the second elongate support portion.

The first and second elongate support portions may be slidably mounted with respect to one another. The securing arrangement may be arranged to secure the first and second elongate support portions in a selected position relative to each other to thereby secure the support member in said selected extended position.

The second end of the support member may include a ground engaging foot. The ground engaging foot may be mounted on the second end of the support member via a ball and socket connection.

The first end of the retaining member may be pivotally attachable to the ladder, possibly to a stile of the ladder. The second end of the retaining member may be pivotally and slidably attachable to the support member. The second end of the retaining member may be pivotally attached to a retaining collar which may be slidably mounted on the support member to thereby provide said pivotal and slidable attachment to the support member. The retaining collar may include clamping means for clamping the retaining collar on the support member in a selected position.

The retaining member may comprise a one-piece elongate rigid link.

The retaining member may alternatively comprise a two-piece pivotal link and may comprise first and second link members which are pivotally connected to each other, for example by a pivotal joint.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ladder arrangement including a ladder and a ladder stabilising device according to the first aspect of the invention attached to the ladder.

The ladder arrangement may include two of said ladder stabilising devices attached to the ladder.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a ladder stabilising device according to the invention attached to a step ladder; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic side view of the ladder stabilising device of Fig. 1 attached to an extension ladder; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic side view of the ladder stabilising device of Figs. 1 and 2 attached to a combination ladder; and Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a modified ladder stabilising device according to the invention attached to a step ladder.

Fig. 1 shows a ladder stabilising device 10 according to the invention attached to a conventional step ladder 12. The ladder stabilising device 10 is intended to prevent the step ladder 12 from tipping over in a sideways direction when in use. Although only one ladder stabilising device 10 is illustrated, in practice a further ladder stabilising device 10 will be attached to the opposite side of the ladder 12 such that toppling of the ladder 12 in either sideways direction is prevented.

In more detail, the ladder stabilising device 10 includes an elongate support member 14 having first and second ends 16, 18. The first end 16 is pivotally attached to an upper end of a stile 20 of the step ladder 12 via a suitable pivotal mounting bracket 22. This enables the support member 14 to be pivotally moved between a retracted position in which it lies substantially parallel and adjacent to the stile 20 to which it is pivotally attached and a deployed position in which it extends outwardly away from the stile 20 in a sideways and forwards direction.

The second end 18 of the support member 14 is co-operable with the ground surface via a ground engaging foot 24. The ground engaging foot 24 is mounted on the second end 18 of the support member 14 via a ball and socket type joint 26 and this ensures that the lower surface of the ground engaging foot 24 remains in planar contact with the surface of the ground to ensure maximum stability when the ladder stabilising device 10 is in use.

The support member 14 is telescopically extendible and includes first and second elongate support portions 28, 30. In the illustrated embodiment, the first elongate support portion 28 is generally hollow and the second elongate support 30 portion is slidably received within the first elongate support portion 28 to provide said telescopic extendibility. As will be appreciated from Fig. 1, the first end 16 of the support member 14 is defined by one end of the first elongate support portion 28, whilst the second end 18 of the elongate support member 14 is defined by one end of the second elongate support portion 30.

In order to enable the first and second elongate support portions 28, 30 to be secured relative to each other in a selected extended position, and to thereby enable the support member 14 to be secured in a selected extended position, the ladder stabilising device 10 includes a securing arrangement 32.

The securing arrangement 32 comprises a cam arrangement which is operable, upon rotation of the second elongate support portion 30 relative to the first elongate support portion 28, to lock the second elongate support portion 30 in a selected extended position relative to the first elongate support portion 28.

The ladder stabilising device 10 further includes a retaining member 34 which is operable to maintain the support member 14 in a selected pivotal position relative to the step ladder 12. The retaining member 34 includes a first end 36 which is pivotally attached to the stile 20 of the ladder 12 and a second end 38 which is pivotally and slidably attached to the support member 14, and more particularly to the first elongate support portion 28.

In the embodiment of Fig. 1, the retaining member 34 comprises a one-piece elongate rigid link. In an alternative embodiment, illustrated in Fig. 4, in which corresponding components are designated with corresponding reference numerals, the retaining member 34 comprises a two-piece link comprising first and second link members 200, 202 which are pivotally connected to each other by a pivotal joint 204.

When the elongate support member 14 is folded from the deployed position shown in Fig. 4 to the retracted position in which it lies substantially parallel and adjacent to the stile 20, the first and second link members 200, 202 pivot relative to each other about the pivotal joint 204, thus facilitating the folding of the elongate support member 14.

In order to provide said slidable and pivotal attachment of the second end 38 of the retaining member 34 to the support member 14, the ladder stabilising device 10 includes a retaining collar 40. The retaining collar 40 is slidabty mounted on the support member 14, and more specifically on the first elongate support portion 28, and the second end 38 of the retaining member 38 is pivotally attached to the retaining collar 40. The retaining collar 40 includes clamping means 42 in the form of a wing nut and bolt arrangement which is selectively operable to frictionally clamp the retaining collar 40 on the support member 14 and thereby prevent sliding movement of the retaining collar 40 on the support member 14.

Generally, the ladder stabilising device 10 will be in a retracted position (not shown) when the step ladder 12 is not being used and is being stored ready for use. In the retracted position, the support member 14 will generally lie adjacent to the stile 20 and be generally parallel thereto. The retaining member 34 will also lie generally parallel to both the stile 20 and the support member 14.

When a user wishes to use the step ladder 12 in a conventional manner, the wing nut of the clamping means 42 can be loosened to release the frictional engagement between the retaining collar 40 and the support member 14, thus permitting the retaining collar 40 to slide along the support member 14. By virtue of the fact that the retaining collar 40 can slide along the support member 14. a user can pivotally move the support member 14 from its retracted position, substantially parallel to the stile 20, to a deployed position such as that shown in Fig. 1 in which it extends generally outwardly from the ladder 12 in a sideways and forwards direction. The securing arrangement 32 can then be released and the support member 14 can be telescopically extended by sliding the second elongate support portion 30 out of the first elongate support portion 28 until the ground engaging foot 24 contacts the surface of the ground.

When contact between the ground engaging foot 24 and the surface of the ground is achieved, the cam arrangement of the securing arrangement 32 can be actuated by rotating the second elongate support portion 30 relative to the first elongate support portion 28, thereby preventing any further relative sliding movement between the first and second elongate support portions 28.

30. The wing nut of the clamping means 42 can also be tightened to frictionally clamp the retaining collar 40 on the support member 14, and more specifically on the first elongate support portion 28, to thereby assist with the prevention of pivotal movement of the support member 14 relative to the step ladder 12.

As will be appreciated from Fig. 1, if a user of the ladder 12 over-reaches in a direction towards the left of the step ladder 12, the ladder stabitising device 10 will prevent the step ladder 12 from toppling over sideways. As mentioned above, an identical ladder stabilising device 10 would normally be fitted to the opposite side of the ladder 12 such that when deployed in the same way as the ladder stabilising device 10 shown in Fig. 1, toppling of the step ladder 12 in a sideways direction towards the right of the step ladder 12 would also be prevented.

When a user has finished using the step ladder 12, the ladder stabilising device 10 can be returned to the retracted position by rotating the second elongate support portion 30 relative to the first elongate support portion 28 to enable sliding of the second elongate support portion 30 back inside the first elongate support portion 28 and releasing the wing nut of the clamping means 42 to permit pivotal movement of the support member 14 from the deployed position back to the retracted position so that it lies adjacent and generally parallel to the stile 20.

Fig. 2 shows the ladder stabilising device 10 attached to a conventional extension ladder 112 and Fig. 3 shows the ladder stabilising device 10 attached to a combination ladder 212. The ladder stabilising device 10 is used in exactly the same way with these types of ladder as with the step ladder 12 of Fig. 1 described above to prevent sideways toppling of the ladders 112, 212 in use and thereby improve ladder stability and hence safety.

Although embodiments of the invention have been described in the preceding paragraphs with reference to various examples, it should be appreciated that various modifications to the examples given may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For example, the support member 14, 114 may be of any configuration provided that it is in some way extendible. The ground engaging foot 24, 124 may be mounted on the second end 18, 118 of the elongate support member 14, 114 by some means other than a ball and socket joint 26, 126.

The retaining member 34, 134 could be pivotally attached to the support member 14, 114 and slidably and pivotally attached to the stile 20, of the ladder 12, 50. Any suitable clamping means 42, 142 may be provided to enable the retaining collar to frictionally engage the support member 14,114.

Whilst endeavouring in the foregoing specification to draw attention to those features of the invention believed to be of particular importance it should be understood that the Applicant claims protection in respect of any patentable feature or combination of features hereinbefore referred to and/or shown in the drawings whether or not particular emphasis has been placed thereon.

Claims

Claims 1. A ladder stabilising device comprising: a support member

including a first end pivotally attachable to a ladder and a second end co-operable with the ground; and a retaining member including a first end co-operable with the ladder and a second end co-operable with the support member to maintain the support member in a selected position, relative to the ladder.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the first end of the support member is pivotally attachable to a stile of a ladder.

3. A device according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the support member is extendible.

4. A device according to claim 3, wherein the ladder stabilising device includes a securing arrangement to secure the support member in a selected position.

5. A device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the support member includes a first and second etongate support portions, the first end of the support member being defined by one end of the first elongate support portion and the second end of the support member being defined by one end of the second elongate support portion.

6. A device according to claim 5, wherein the first and second elongate support portions are slidably mounted with respect to one another and the securing arrangement is arranged to secure the first and second elongate support portions in a selected position relative to each other to thereby secure the support member in said selected extended position.

7. A device according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the second end of the support member includes a ground engaging foot.

8. A device according to claim 7, wherein the ground engaging foot is mounted on the second end of the support member via a ball and socket connection.

9. A device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first end of the retaining member is pivotally attachable to a ladder in use.

10. A device according to claim 9, wherein the second end of the retaining member is pivotally and slidably attachable to the support member.

11. A device according to claim 10, wherein the second end of the retaining member is pivotally attached to a retaining collar which is slidably mounted on the support member to thereby provide said pivotal and slidable attachment to the support member.

12. A device according to claim 11, wherein the retaining collar includes clamping means for clamping the retaining collar on the support member is a selected position.

13. A device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the retaining member comprises a one-piece elongate ngid link.

14. A device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the retaining member comprises a two-piece pivotal link comprising first and second link members which are pivotally connected to each other.

15. A ladder stabilising device substantially as hereinbefore described and/or as shown in the accompanying drawings.

16. Any novel subject matter or combination including novel subject matter disclosed herein, whether or not within the scope of or relating to the same invention as any of the preceding claims.