US2904128A - Ladder hood - Google Patents

Description

Sept.. 15, 1959 G. BOHAM ETALy LADDER HOOD Filed Sept. 5, 1956 IN VEN TORS ATTORNEYS BOHAM ROBERT J. PAINTER FISQ.

United States Patent O LADDER HOOD Galen Boham and Robert J. Painter, Lima, Ohio; said Painter assgnor to said B'oham Application September 5, 1956, Serial No. 608,157

1 Claim. (Cl. 182-108) This invention relates to anti-skid and anti-scuff devices for use with ladders to prevent scufiing of surfaces against which :the ladders rest and at the same time to act as safeguards against accidental ladder slippage.

Various anti-skid or anti-slip devices have been devised heretofore, examples being suction cups of rubber-like material or devices shaped for mechanical engagement with a wall surface as by means of a point or the like. In many cases, however, devices of the latter type cannot be used because of marring of or other damage to the wall surface and even suction cups may cause rings or like marks on delicate paint work or wall paper.

The present invention provides a novel device having both good anti-slip and good anti-scuff properties, which is inexpensive and easy to apply and use, and which is adaptable to use under almost any conditions encountered in practice.

One embodiment of the invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but it is to be expressly understood that said drawings are for puiposes of illustration only and are not to be taken as a deiinition of the limits of the invention, reference Ibeing had to the appended claim for this purpose.

In said drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the use of devices embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the device of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view illustrating an intermediate step in the manufacture of the device shown in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 shows diagrammatically the blank used in the manufacture of the device shown in Fig. 2.

For purposes of illustration, Fig. 1 shows part of a wall 1 against which rests the upper end of a ladder cornprising side rails 2 and a rung 3. The upper end of each side rail 2 is covered by a hood 4 held in place by a 11.111- engaging strap 5, each device 4, 5 being of the type illustrated in detail in Figs. 2-5, inclusive.

The hood part 4 of the device is formed of a piece of wool-bearing sheepskin, or other similar fur-bearing hide, fashioned to provide an internal pocket into which the end of the ladder rail projects, and having the skin or leather side turned inwardly to line the pocket and the wool or fur-bearing side .turned outwardly to engage a wall or the like when the ladder is in use.

The hood may advantageously be made from a single piece of material such as shown in Fig. 5 wherein the main or body portion 6 of the blank is substantially rectangular in shape and is provided at about the midpoint of its long edges with laterally extending tabs 7. When these tabs 7 and the ends 8 of the body portion 6 are turned upwardly out of the plane of the blank as shown in Fig. 4, their edges meet and can be suitably secured together to form the hood 4. Preferably each pair of meeting edges are turned inwardly for face-to-face engagement of their wool-bearing sides (Fig. 3), in which position they are secured together by any suitable means such as stitching 9.

The arrangement just described provides a hood the outer surface of which has a continuous and practically Fice integral wool coat over its entire area for maximum antislip and anti-scuff protection. The inside surface of the hood, which has wearing engagement with the end of the ladder rail, is formed of leather to provide long life.

I-t is preferable, although not necessary, that the hood have a fairly close t on the end of the ladder rail, and it will be understood that hoods may be made in a variety of sizes and shapes if desired. The approximate crosssectional size and shape of the ladder rail for which the hood is intended can be used to determine the dimensions of the roughly rectangular portion of the body section 6 which is left when the tabs 7 and ends 8 are turned up as seen in Fig. 3. Of course, the hood is flexible and can accommodate itself to rails of different sizes and shapes, but the hood pocket is normally approximately rectangular in shape and this shape together with the lines of stitching 9 at the corners assists in holding the hood against turning on the ladder rail and thus contributes to the anti-slip properties of the device.

Preferably the hood is held on the end of the ladder side rail by means of a strap 5 formed of suitable exible and elastic material and of adjustable length so as to be adapted for use under dilferent conditions. In the form shown, the two ends of the strap are secured to the hood by stitching them at 10 to the ends 8 of the body section 6 of the blank, but it will be understood that these ends can be attached to the hood at any other points desired by any other suitable means. For purposes of installation, the strap 5 is made in two parts and adjustability of length is obtained by the use of any suitable adjustable connection between the free ends of the strap parts as, for example, the snap fastener part 11 on the free end of one strap part and a plurality of cooperating snap fastener parts 12 suitably distributed along the length of the other strap part.

The use and the advantages of devices embodying the invention will be apparent =to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. It will also be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiment shown in the drawings and described in detail above, and that changes may be made in the form and details of construction of the parts without departing from its spirit. Reference should therefore be had to the appended claim for a definition of the limits of the invention.

What is claimed is:

A device for covering the end of the side rail of a ladder to provide rmer engagement between the side rail and a supporting surface against which the ladder leans while preventing marring of said surface, said device comprising a hood made of flexible sheepskin-like material in the form of an open-ended pocket shaped to iit over and cover the upper end of a side rail, said material having its wooly side turned outwardly for frictional and non-marring engagement with the supporting surface and its leathery side forming the lining of the pocket, said hood formed of sections having their edges turned inwardly to bring the wooly faces thereof in contact and form an uninterrupted wooly outer surface, said edges secured together and forming ridge-like projections from said lining, certain of said ridges extending parallel to the length of the side rail and adapted to engage the rail to hold the hood against turning around on the end of the rail, and flexible strap means adapted to pass around a rung of the ladder and having its ends connected to the hood to hold the hood on the end of the rail.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 0 D. 170,355 Gross Sept. 8, 1953 2,066,7,13 Bowland Jan. 5, 1937 2,138,171 Johnson Nov. 28, 1938

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