US3042139A

US3042139A - Step stool

Info

Publication number: US3042139A
Application number: US29828A
Authority: US
Inventors: Earl F Hamilton
Original assignee: Hamilton Cosco Inc
Current assignee: Hamilton Cosco Inc
Priority date: 1960-05-18
Filing date: 1960-05-18
Publication date: 1962-07-03
Anticipated expiration: 1979-07-03

Description

July 3, 1962 E. F. HAMILTON 3,042,139

STEP STOOL Filed May 18, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENToR. @WL E HHM/UM, Y

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July 3, 1962 E, F, HAMILTON 3,042,139

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United States Patent O 3,042,139 STEP STOOL Earl F. Hamilton, Columbus, Ind., assigner to Hamilton Cosco, Inc., Columbus, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed May 18, 1966, Ser. No. 29,828 6 Claims. (Cl. 182-33.5)

This invention relates yto a step stool, and more particularly to a stool having a plurality of steps mounted thereon and movable between a retracted position beneath the stool seat and an extended position in which they provide, in eiect, a ladder leading to said stool seat.

The 4present invention relates to the type of step stool just described, and has for its object the provision of a step stool of attractive appearance which lends itself to manufacture from metal-tubing and sheet-metal. A further objcct o-f the invention is to provide a step stool which will prove sturdy and durable in use, but which is adapted for shipment in knocked-down condition.

In carrying out my invention in its preferred form, I provide pairs of front and rear legs having their upper ends rigidly interconnected, and which are interconnected toward their lower ends by a brace. A seat is rigidly mounted on the upper ends of said legs, and the stool may be further provided with a back rest mounted above the plane of the seat on supports connected to the upper ends of the rear legs.

The ladder comprises a pair of frame Amembers rigidly connected at their upper and lower ends to a pair of steps. A pair of legs are also connected to said steps and extend downwardly from the lower of said pair of steps for engagement with the floor. The ladder is swingably mounted on the stool by a pair of general-ly U-shaped links swingably interconnecting the ladder frame to the stool leg brace along the lateral and forward stretches of said brace.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention. In such drawings:

FIG. 1 is -a side elevation of a step stool embodying my invention, yand showing in dotted lines the stool ladder in extended position;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the stool shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectionl taken o-n the line 3 3- of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is yan enlarged vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. l;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 6 6v of FIG. 5.

As illustrated in the drawings, my step stool is supported on a plurality of floor-engaging legs conveniently formed from lengths of metal-tubing. Forward support for the stool is provided by a pair of front legs 10i having their upper ends bent rearwardly, and rearward support for the stool is provided by a pair of rear legs 12 having their upper ends bent forwardly and telescoped into the upper ends of 4the front legs 10, as at 11, to rigidly connect the front and rear legs adjacent the lateral edges of the stool. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the

legs

10 and 12 are bent inwardly, as at 13, adjacent their upper ends, and `are rigidly interconnected toward their lower ends by a horizontally disposed brace 15 conveniently formed of metal-tubing and connected to the inner faces of the several legs as by bolts 17.

A stool seat 16 in the form of a sheet-metal stamping having a downwardly extending peripheral flange is rigidly connected =to the upper horizontally disposed ends of the front and rear legs, as by bolts 19. Conveniently, the seat 16 may be provided with a sheet-metal shell 20 having a padded covering and disposed over the upper face 3,042,139 Patented July 3 1962 of said seat. The stool illustrated is also provided with a back rest 23 mounted above the seat 16 ou a pair of back supports 24 rigidly connected to the rear face of the back rest 23 and to the upper ends of the rear legs 12 in hidden position under the seat 16.

The ladder illustrated in the drawings comprises a pair of steps mounted on a supporting frame pivotally connected to the brace 15 for swinging movement between its retracted position shown in full lines in FIG. l in which the steps underlie the stool seat 16 'and its extended operative position sho-wn in dotted lines in FIG. 1 in which the steps are disposed forwardly of said seat. As shown, the upper and

lower steps

25 and 26, respectively, are conveniently formed from sheet-metal stampings having downwardly projecting peripheral flanges 25 and 26'. As shown in FIG. 2, the upper step 25 is disposed in the general vertical extent of the pinched in portion 13 of the stool legs 10 land 12 and has a lateral extent less than the lateral spacing between the pinched in portions `13 of the front legs 10 but greater than the lateral spacing between the pinched in portions 13 of the rear legs 12'. Desirably, the upper faces of the

steps

25 and 26 are covered with treads 28. The steps are mounted on a pair of ground-engageable legs 30 formed from lengths of metal-tubing and connected to the lower step 26, as by bolts 32. As shown in FIG. 3, the upper end of each leg 30 is iattened and bent into an offset finger 33 having a recess 3K4 formed therein. The legs 30 are adapted to be connected to the upper step 25 by their lingers 33, and to this end, said step has a pair of downwardly struck ears 36 and a pair of dimples 38 disposed ladjacent said ears. Thus, to mount the legs 30 on the upper step 25, the ends of the leg fingers 33 are inserted between the lower face of said step and the ears 36, and the legs 30 are then swung upwardly into a position such that their fingers bear against the upper face of the step ears 36 and the finger recesses 34 are received over the dimples 38 for thus locking said legs in iixed position on said step. After such interengagement between the iingers 33 'and ears 36 is effected, the legs 30 are secured in fixed position by the bolts 312'.

The

steps

25 and 26 are also interconnected bya pair of .generally L-shaped members also formed from lengths of metaltubing, and hav-ing generally vertically and horizontally disposed

stretches

40 and 41. The upper'ends of the vertical stretches 40 are also flattened and connected to the upper step 25 in the manner previously described in connection with the upper ends of the legs 30. The horizontal stretch 41 of each of the L-shaped members lies slightly Iabove the plane of the brace 15 with its forward end underlying the lower ladder step 26 and connected to one of the lateral stretches of the step flange 26' by one of the bolts 32. `Desir-ably, the lower face of the step 26 rests on, and is supported on, the upwardly presented `faces of the horizontally disposed stretches 41 of 'the pairof L-shaped members.

'The ladder is pivotally connected to the stool by a pair of generally U-shaped

links

42 and 44. As shown in FIG. 5, the link 42 has its bight 45 pivotally received in the vertical stretches `40 of t-he pair of L- shaped members above the plane of the brace 15, with its outturned end-s 46 pivotally received in aligned openings in the inner faces of the 'lateral stretches of the brace 15 forwardly of the transverse axis of said brace. The link 44 has its bight 4'8 pivotally received in a pair of brackets 50 mounted on the forwardly disopsed stretch of Athe brace 15 between the ladder legs 30. As shown in FIG. 6, the link 44 is curved upwardly and rearwardly from its bight 48, and is provided with outturned ends 52 pivotal-ly received in aligned openings formed in the inner faces of the horizontal stretches 41 u of the pair of L-shaped members underlying the lower step.

From the above description, it will be apparent that the links 42 and 414 connect the ladder to the brace 1S in such a way that the ladder can be moved between the full line and dotted l-ine posit-ions shown in FIG. 1. When the ladder is in its retracted position shown in full lines in FlG. 1, it is supported by the legs 30 and the lower step flange 26 resting on the forwardly disposed stretch of the brace 15. In extended posi-tion, shown in dotted lines in FIG. l, the ladder is supported by the legs 30 and the horizontal stretches 411 of the L-shaped members resting on the forwardly disposed stretch of the brace 1S. During the movement of the ladder between its retracted and extended position, the

links

42 and 44 will of course pivot `about their connections to said ladder and the stool brace 15. During such pivotal movement, the ladder is prevented from pivoting substantially rearwardly past the full line position shown in FIG. 1 into a cocked position by the inwardly pinched portions 13 of the rear legs 12. With the lateral extent of the step being greater than the lateral spacing between the rear legs 12 at their inwardly pinched portions 13, any rearward tilting of the ladder is limited by said upper step striking the pinched portions 13 of said rear legs.

The lower ends of the several pairs of

legs

10, 12, and are desirably provided iwith caps 54 which facilitate movement of a stool over a floor and provide adequa-te load-transmitting surface between the stool and iloor.

I claim as my invention:

1. A step stool, comprising pairs of `front and rear legs rigidly connected Aat their upper ends, a brace rigidly interconnecting said legs toward their lower ends, a back rest mounted on the rear legs, a seat mounted on the upper ends of the front and rear legs, a ladder having an upper step and a lower step offset forwardly therefrom, said pair of steps being interconnected by pairs `of generally L-shaped members and ground-engageable legs, and a pair of generally U-shaped links pivotally interconnecting said L-shaped members to said brace for pivotal movement of said ladder from a retracted position generally underlying the stool seat to an extended operative position in which it is disposed forwardly of said seat, said' pair of links being connected to said brace in a common horizontal plane with one of said pairs of links being pivotally connected to said brace between the front stool legs and the other of said pair of links being pivotally joined to said brace between the front and rear stool legs, the pivot connection between said ladder and said one of said pair of links lying forwardly of Said fro-nt legs when said ladder is extended and rearwardly of said front legs when said-ladder is retracted.

2. A step stool as set forth in claim 1 in which said one of said pair of links i-'s pivotal-1y connected to said L-shaped members in the plane of the lower step and said other of said pair of links'is pivotally connected to said L-shaped members between the upper and lower ladder steps.

3. A step stool as set forth in claim 1 in which said one of said pair of U-shaped links has its intermediate stretch rotatably carried in a pair of brackets mounted on said brace between the pair of front legs, and the ends of said link project outwardly parallel to said intermediate stretch and are pivotally received in said L- shaped members under the lower step, said brackets being disposed adjacent the ends of said intermediate Stretch.

4. A step stool yas set forth in claim 1 with the addition that said steps have downwardly projecting peripheral flanges, and said L-shaped members underlie said lower step and are connected to the lateral stretches of its peripheral llange, said lower step being disposed over a pair of brackets mounted on said brace and pivotally mounting said one of said pair of links to the brace.

5. A step stool as set forth in claim 1 in which said pair of ground-engageable ladder legs and said L-shaped members are connected Ito the lateral stretches of the lower step by common fastening means.

6. A step stool, comprising pairs of front and rear legs, brace means interconnecting said legs and having at least a front stretch interconnecting said front legs and a pair of lateral stretches interconnecting said rear legs with said front legs, a seat mounted on the upper ends of said front and rear legs, a ladder having an -upper step and 'a lower step offset forw-ardly therefrom, a pair of L-shaped members rigidly interconnecting said steps, a pair of `ground-engageable legs interconnected said steps adjacent their front edges, and a pair of generally U-shaped links pivotally interconnecting said L- shaped members to said brace means for pivotal movement of said ladder from a retracted position generally underlying the stool seat Ito an extended operative position in which it is disposed forwardly of said seat, said pair of links lbeing connected to said brace means in a common horizontal plane with one of said pairs of links being connected to said front brace stretch and the other of said pair Iof links being pivotally joined to said lateral brace stretches, the pivot connection between said l-adder and said one of said pair of links lying forwardly of said front legs when said ladder is extended and rearwardly of said front legs when said ladder is retracted.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS