SE539084C2

SE539084C2 - Ladder intended primarily for a vehicle bed

Info

Publication number: SE539084C2
Application number: SE1451182A
Authority: SE
Inventors: Widerstedt Mattias; Sand Kanstrup Gustav; Schnitzler Erik; Jonasson Oscar; Höglund Elin; Chamma Alexander
Original assignee: Scania Cv Ab
Priority date: 2014-10-06
Filing date: 2014-10-06
Publication date: 2017-04-04
Also published as: SE1451182A1; DE102015012851A1

Abstract

12 ABSTRACT (6), comprising at least one seat The invention relates to a ladder mainly intended foruse/location in a vehicle cab (l)(2,3) (4,5).that the ladder (6) comprises a substantially U-shaped frame, and that the ladder (6) and at least one bed The invention is achieved byis arranged inat least partly inside(2,3) and that the ladder (6) ismovable from a storage position behind or in the backrest of (2,3) (2,3) or behind the seats backrest, the seat to a use position on the side of the seat backrest. (Figure 6)

Description

LADDER INTENDED PRIMARILY FOR A VEHICLE BED TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a ladder mechanism, preferably intended for reaching beds in a vehicle. Theinvention particularly relates to a ladder to facilitate entryto a high-placed bed in especially a heavy commercial vehicle,such as a truck, and where the bed is mounted in the cab of the vehicle behind the driver's and /or the passenger seats.

BACKGROUND ART On the market there are a large variety of heavy commersiel vehicles. In vehicles such as trucks, which are intended for long-distance transportation, are often at least one bedinstalled in the cab to allow the driver to be able to restduring the drive. If the vehicle is equipped with two beds,they are usually placed one above the other, a lower and anupper bed, one intended for the driver and the other intendedfor a passenger or codriver. In order to reach the upper bedin a comfortable manner there are often used some form of a ladder. One problem with this is that a ladder will take up a certain amount of space. The ladder does take some space andrestrict the passage in and out of the lower bed and can noteasily be controlled /managed by a person who is located inthe lower bed. The ladder may for example be stored under theupper bed. Known designs are often complex and contains manycomponents, which makes it expensive to manufacture and assemble.

A common and prior known solution is that the ladder ismounted on the underside of the upper bed and when in use it is normally unfolded and located in the space between the two front seats. Before use the ladder is pulled out forwardly via rails arranged on the underside of the upper bed. The ladderis then folded down to its operating position. One problem isthat the ladder will sag toward the lower bed when the ladderis loaded. The ladder will also take up a relatively largespace even when folded to its storage position and may also,in its use position, hamper the entrance to the lower bed. Afurther problem is that the user must perform a number ofdifferent manual operations to lower the ladder to its useposition, and must be handle the same procedures in reverseorder when the ladder should be folded up to its storage but no position. Other soultions of a ladder are also known, one is similar to the present inevntion.

Many attempts have been made to provide a simple and user- friendly solution to the problems mentioned.

JPH04132829 illustrates an example of a vehicle seat withintegrated and built-in steps in the very backrest of a seat.In one version of this design the steps are fixed in the In another version, backrest of the seat. the steps are foldable in the forward direction out of the backrest. In afurther variant thesteps are uncovered from the backrest, byturning parts of the backrest sideways, parts that normallyrepresents the backrest itself, and which normally aredirected forward of the seat. All these variants have a numberof disadvantages. One is that they affect the whole seatsconstruction and design, which increases the cost for suchseats. Another is that such a ladder design becomes relativelycomplex and requires a number of operations for a driver/userin order to use the ladder. A further disadvantage is that theuser needs to step on the chairs seat when using the step function and may lead to that the seat will get dirty.

JPS6154932 illustrates another example of a vehicle seat with an integral step function. The backrest is here provided with a foldable ladder made of metal. The aim, however, isdifferent from the present invention in that the backrest willbe used as a seat in itself by folding down the backrest andThe folded ladder forms not the floor of the folding it backwards in the vehicle.in this way a support to the ground,vehicle. And the purpose of the steps is also to serve asfootrest for the user.

Still another solution is disclosed in JP2012025222. In one variant, the seat surface, on the underside provided with fixed step parts, which are moved to a position of use by folding together the seat and rotate the entire seat backwardsaround an axis. Hence, the seat bottom is located in anupwardly inclined position and is in this position a simpleladder which enables a user to move from one floor level into another. the vehicle The solution is complicated and takes up a lot of space in its use position.

A number of similar solutions, regarding ladders with the aim to reach an upper bed in a vehicle cab, exist in the marketbut none of these prior known systems illustrates a stepdesign that requires a small space, requiring a few components, is stable in used and easy to fold into a use position and back to a stowed position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One object of the present invention is to solve the abovementioned problems and to provide a simple ladder design whicheasily may be folded or pulled out to a use position from astorage position and create a practical ladder solution inorder to reach a top bed located in a vehicle cab where the space is limited.

Another object of the invention is to design a ladder containing few components.

A further object of the invention is that the ladder must bemechanically stable when loaded, in its use position.A further object of the invention is that the ladder must take minimal space in its storage position.

A further object of the invention is that the ladder should beeasy to access and easy to pull out to its use position andfold/slide into its storage position, even by a user who is in the lower bed.

A further object of the invention is that the ladder should besafe in traffic and should not hurt anyone in case of a traffic accident situation.

These and further objects and advantages is achieved by theinvention by a ladder designed in accordance with the features recited in claim l.

The invention refers to that a ladder and its mechanism is located at the back of, for example, a passenger seat backrest alternatively is mounted partly inside the seat backrest. Theuser/driver can easily pull out the ladder in a horizontaldirection to a use position with a simple operation, when heneeds to reach the upper bed. A locking device/mechanism keepsthe ladder in the storage position and/or in the use position.The locking device can be manually actuated /opened using ane.g. button.

Due to the design the ladder takes up very little space, bothin its use position and in the storage position and takes upminimal space between the seats, even in its use position,thus making it always easy to reach the lower bed. The ladder can easily be pushed aside to its storage position, from the lower bed and the ladder can be handled also if the user issitting in one of the seats. In its storage position theladder do not limit the passage to and from the lower bed at all.

The actual steps are preferably formed of a metal profile orframe of aluminum and slides on rails/bar mounted on the rearof the backrest alternatively mounted inside the seatsbackrest. The rails are preferably fixedly attached to thebackrest internal framework. The frame can be designed as an Uarranged horizontally in relation to the backrest. The stepsmay advantageously be inserted in substantially its entirelength/width behind or in the backrest, in its storageposition, and will not take up any space in the vehicle cab.The ladder is locked in either end position using a springbiased locking device that can be released by means of abutton, conveniently placed e.g. at the top of the ladder frame. When the ladder is pushed into its storage position itwill be locked and when the ladder reaches its outer use position it is again locked in this position. By pressing thebutton the locking mechanism is released and allows the userto pull the ladder from its storage position or push it back from the use position into the storage position.

The main advantages of the inventive solution are that theladder contains few components which make it cost effective tomanufacture and assemble. By using few components and by usinglightweight aluminum, the ladder's weight will also be verylow. The ladder will be fast and easy to handle by that theladders design is simple and few manual operational steps arerequired. And the ladder can be controlled with only one hand.The design also takes up very little space, both in itsstorage position but also in its use position. The ladder canbe easily handled disregard where the user is located in theor located in the lower, or cab, sitting in one of the seats, upper bed.

Further features and advantages of the invention will beapparent from the following, more detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is described below in some preferred embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 illustrates a side view of a conventional vehicle cab(partially open) provided with a lower and an upper bed.Figure 2 illustrates a top view of the vehicle cab of Figure l.

Figure 3 illustrates a perspective view of a schematicinterior of the vehicle cab, said passenger seat is shown withan inventive ladder inserted in its storage position behind the seat backrest.

Figure 4 illustrates the same view as Figure 4 but with theladder in the extended position, the use position.Figure 5 illustrates a detail of the ladder in the form of an U-shaped profile or frame, made of metal, and which run in rails arranged in the seat backrest.

Figure 6 illustrates the passenger seat from behind whichshows how the ladder runs in rails mounted on the seatsbackrest.

Figure 7 illustrates an alternative mounting of the ladder inside the passenger seat's backrest.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention relates to a folding or extendable ladder designed for a vehicle cab. The ladder can be movedbetween a storage position and a use position running/slidingin rails arranged in the vehicle seat, and more specifically in the seat backrest.

Figure 1 illustrates a typical vehicle cab l seen from the side, and here the side is partially cut away. The cab l is behind the driver's seat 2 and passenger seat 3 (not visible)fitted with a lower main bed 4 and an upper extra bed 5. To facilitate the instep to the upper bed 5 is used a ladder 6.

Figure 2 illustrates a top view of the vehicle cab l as shownin Figure l where the space between the seats 2,3 and theupper bed 4 can be seen more in detail. The ladder 6 islocated in the space between the seats 2,3 near one of theseats 2,3. It is important that the ladder 6 does not obstructa person using the lower bed 4 when the person will enter orexit this lower bed 4. It is therefore desirable that theladder 6 is as slim as possible, and it is also advantageousif the ladder 6 can be located close to one or the seats 2,3so that a larger space is created making it easier to enter orexit the lower bed 4. It is also advantageous if the ladders 6position can be easily handled by a person located in thelower bed 4, so that the person can operate the ladder toslide in and out of its storage position in a simple way and without a significant effort.

Figure 3 illustrates a perspective view of an imaginaryschematized interior of a vehicle cab l where the passengerseat 3 is shown to the left in the figure and the driver seatA ladder 6, 2 is partly illustrated to the right. according to the invention, is here illustrated inserted in its storage position, behind the passenger seats 3 backrest. The ladder 6 is formed of a profile/frame of metal essentially consistingof an open U of aluminum, rotated in 90 degrees. The ladder 6(see The ladder 6 runs/slides in an upper and a lower track/rail 9a,lOafigure 6) provided behind the seats 3 backrest.may advantageously be pushed into substantially its entirelength/width behind the seats 3 backrest, to a storageposition, thereby intruding practically not at all to the space of the cab l, or the space between the seats 2,3.

Figure 4 illustrates the same view as in Figure 3, but in this view the ladder 6 is pulled out or extended to its use position. In this position, a person can use the ladder 6 in order to climb to the upper bed 5 in the cab l.

Figure 5 illustrates in more detail the ladders 6 main component, the metal frame, and how it is suitably formed as an open U, positioned rotated horizontally in a relation to the seats 3 backrest. The ladder 6 may of course be formed in various ways and could e.g. be square formed (not illustrated here). The frame's upper and lower legs 7,8 runs/slides in the upper and lower track/rail 9a,lOa (see figure 6) provided behind the seats 3 backrest. The metal profile is providedwith e.g. two substantially 90 degrees bends ll,l2 and the legs 7,8 extend substantially parallel to each other.

Figure 6 illustrates a view from behind of the seat 3. The figure illustrates how the legs 7,8 are inserted into thetracks/rails 9a,lOa arranged at the seats 3 backrest. Theladder 6 may be locked in at least one of its possible endpositions, either in the storage position or in the use position, a spring biased locking mechanism (not shown by e.g.in detail) which manually can be released by pressing a buttonl3a conveniently located on the upper track/rail 9a. By pressing the button l3a the locking mechanism is released and allows the user to pull the ladder 6, out of its storage position. When the ladder 6 reaches the extended or useposition the locking mechanism locks the ladder 6 again. Inorder to push the ladder 6 back to its storage position thebutton l3a must be pressed once again in order to release the ladder 6.

Figure 7 illustrates an alternative location of the ladder 6.Here the tracks/rails 9b,lOb are located inside the seats 3backrest, and suitably anchored to the seats 6 inner framework14, and thus takes up even less space of the interior of thecab l. The release button l3b,c may also be located on thevertical part of the frame of the ladder 6 or behind the seats3 backrest. Other locations of the button l3a-c are of course also possible! The above description is primarily intended to facilitate theunderstanding of the invention. However the invention is ofcourse not in any way restricted to only the disclosedembodiments, but many possibilities to modifications would beapparent to a person skilled in the art within the scope ofthe invention without departing from the basic idea of theinvention as defined in the appended claims. As an example theladder 6 may be arranged on or in the backrest of the driver's seat 2 as well.

Claims

1. l. Ladder (6), mainly intended for use/location in a vehiclecab (l) comprising at least one seat (2,3) and at least onebed (4,5), characterized in that- the ladder (6) is made of an essentially U-shaped or square(7,8), is arranged at least partly inside or formed frame arranged with at least two legs- that the ladder (6)(2,3)- that the ladder (6) on the seats backrest, andis movable from a storage position(2,3) backrest. behind or in the backrest of the seat (2,3) to a use positionon the side of the seats

2. Ladder (6) according to claim l,characterized in that the ladders (6) frame is essentially made out of one piece.

3. Ladder according to claim l or 2, characterized in that the ladder (6) frame is made of metal, such as aluminum.

4. Ladder (6) according to any one of the preceding claims,characterized in thatthe ladder (6) is arranged movable in substantially horizontal direction relative to the seats (2,3) backrest.

5. Ladder (6) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the ladder (6) runs/slides in tracks/rails (7,8) arranged inthe seats (2,3) backrest or o.Qi on the backside of theseats (2,3) backrest.

6. Ladder (6) according to in' one of the grovfdiug claims 5, characterized in that | the ladders (6) tracks/rails (7,8) are fixed to anthe inner 11 framework (14) of the seats (2,3) backrests.

7. Ladder (6) according to any one of the preceding claims,characterized in that(l3a-c) mechanism is arranged to release the ladder (6) a button connected to a spring biased locking mechanicallyin at least one of its end positions.

8. Vehicle provided with a ladder (6) according to any of the claims l-7.