GB330784A - Improvements in or relating to disappearing stairways - Google Patents

Abstract

330,784. Bessler Disappearing Stairway Co., (Assignees of Bessler, F. E.). March 11, 1929, [Convention date]. Ladders.-An attic ladder is combined with a ceiling closure, the ladder being pivoted to one end of the ceiling aperture while the closure is pivoted to the sides or side of the aperture, movement of the ladder or closure causing movement of the other member, the ceiling closure being normally maintained shut. The ladder 13 is slidably mounted in a framework 14 pivoted at 16 to one end of a recess 11, which is adapted to be closed by a flap 12 pivoted to one side of the recess, springs 37 causing the closing movement of the flap. The portion of the ladder above the pivots 16, when in the non-operative position, is rather heavier than the other portion, so that the flap is maintained closed. The flap may be opened by pulling a chain 36 or by raising the upper end of the ladder to cause the lower end to press on bars 38 fixed to the flap, whereupon a toggle lever 25 pivoted at one end 26 to the flap and at the other end 27 to the framework 14 pulls the ladder to inclined position, Fig. 2, against the force of a spring 32 which controls the inclination of the ladder. The flap is retained in open position by the toggle lever 25, while the ladder can be further extended against spring resistance on a drum 40 on the framework 14 by the disengagement of a pivoted cam catch 17 from a stop 20 on the framework. To cause the ladder to disappear, it is raised on the framework until the pivoted catch engages over the stop 20, and then, by swinging the ladder upwardly, a stop 30a on it contacts with the toggle lever and bends the joint so that the force of the springs 37 may raise the flap, the ladder swinging to its inoperative position by gravity. In a modification, the aperture may be closed by spring-retracted flaps 12a pivoted one on each side of the opening, and the hand chain 36a is fixed to the ladder and passes through the joint of the flaps, the sides of the ladder contacting with inclined bars 38<a> on the flaps to maintain them in open position.