US819929A - Compound scaling-ladder. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED MAY 8, 1906.

W. P. SAMPSON. GOMPOUND SCALING LADDER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 26.1905.

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I UNITED STATES 'PATENT OFFICE.

WIN SLOW MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF MASSAOHUSET' `S.

COMPOUND SCALING-LADDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

1Patented May 8, 1906.

Application filed July 26,1905. Serial No. 271,277.

To @ZZ whom it may concern,-

Be it known that I, WINsLow F. SAMPsoN, of Medford, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Compound Scaling-Iiadders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ladders of that type known as scaling-ladders7 and which are chiefly employed by firemen to enable them to ascend from the ground outside of a building by engaging the hook usually carried by such ladders with the sill or sills of the windows of a building.

In Letters Patent No. 769,237, granted to me September 6, 1904, I have shown, described, and claimed a scaling-ladder comprising two ladder-sections having their side rails slidingly connected, the sections being side by side and each section having means for engaging a window-sill.

My present invention relates to this same type of scaling-ladder, which is so constructed that a fireman can alternately pass from one section to another, while the section from which he stepped may be elevated by another fireman on the ground.

The object of my present invention is to provide an elastic orl yielding connection between the two members or sections of the compound ladder, so that there will be a normal tendency to hold the two sections in the same plane, from which plane either section can be swung.

Another object of the invention is to provide a compound ladder of this type having interchangeable hooks to adapt the ladders for use in connection with buildings having sills or cornices of varying width.

A further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of this type with means whereby neither section can accidentally catch upon so as to be retarded by any projecting portion of a building. Incidentally, the use of the ladder cannot deface the buildr To these ends the invention consists in the construction and combination of parts substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a front elevation of an apparatus embodying my present invention in use. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, enlarged, of the coupling. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the compound ladder, the two sections or ladders being at the same height and partially broken out to reduce the length of the figure. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the apparatus in the relative positions shown in Fig. 3.

Similar reference characters indicate the same or similar parts in all the views.

The two sections or members of the com- `pound ladder are represented at a and l). Each section is composed of the usual side rails 10 and rungs or rounds 11. The lower end of each side rail 10 is providedl with a pivoted roller 127 which serves as an antifriction means that may engage the facing of a building when the sections are being raised or lowered or suspended from a window-sill. Said rollers ride freely against the face of the building or over projections therefrom when the sections are being moved upward or downward. In order to keep the upper portion of each section away from contact with the face or sills of a building, said`upper portions are provided with shoes 13, which are shown as composed of metal strips bowed and having their ends mounted upon the two upper rungs of each section.

One of the side rails 10 of each section has secured on opposite faces of its upper end two suspension-plates 14, which are -spaced apart, as shown, to form recesses within which a sheave is mounted,l said suspensionplates forming extensions of the side rails to which they are attached. A brace 16 connects the upper ends of said suspensionplates with the outer side rail of each member. The suspension-plates 14 are also spaced apart at their upper ends, each pair of suspension-plates forming a recess or socket to receive the shank 17 ofthe suspensionhook 18. Said shank is formed witha vertical slot or recess 19 in its lower end, a guide pin or rivet 20 connecting the suspensionplates entering said slot or recess 19. A bolt 21, carried by the upper end of a spring 22, the lower end of which is secured at 23 to one of the suspension-plates, is adapted to engage a suitable hole in the shank 17 of the hook. By springing out the bolt 21 the hook 18 may be removed and another one having a different shaipe of the sill-engaging portion may be place in the space or recess between the upper ends of the suspensionplates, the shank being pushed downward IOO until the spring-bolt 21 sna s into the hole that is formed in the shank o said hook. At

the same time the slot or recess 19 in ther lower end of the shank 17 rides down over the guide-pin 20, whereby the shank is steadied and the suspension-hook is practically asV iirm a portion ofthe apparatus as though it were integral with the suspension-plates.

i The coupling which connects the two ladder-sections comprises two plates 24, the lower end of one of said plates being formed with a rigid hub 25 and the lower end of the other plate being pivotally connected with said hub. The upper end of each plate 24 is widened or offset, as shown, one of said widened portions or arms being formed with a slot curved to conform with radii from the pivot-hub 25 as a center. The upper portion of the other plate 24 is provided with a pin which is guided in the curved slot, said pin comprising a screw 27, passing through said slot and fitting a screw-thread 1n the upper end of said other member and extending through it and provided with a set-nut28. The said curved slot is indicated at 29. This in and slot serve to limit the relative oscilatory movements of the two plates 24 of the coupling. Y Projecting outward from thelplates 24 are ears 30, which embrace the adjacent side rails of the two members c and b, said ears being so formed, of course, that the rungs 11 of the ladders may pass freely. Saidy ears form the guideways through which a part of each ladder-section may slide relatively to the coupling and the other section. A straight spring 31, rigidly connected with the hub 25, eX- tends upward and passes through an eye 32,

vwhich is connected with the plate 24 opposite the plate to which the hub 25 is rigidly connected. Said spring therefore constitutes a resilient connection which has a tendency to hold the two ladder-sections side by side and within the same plane; but the connection is a yielding one owing to the resilience of the spring, so that one section may move relativelyto the other, as indicated in y Fig. 2.

Suitable ropes or chains .33 are arranged similarly to those in my patent above referred to. Said ropes or chains are attached at their ends to terminal eyes 34 at the lower ends of the sections and on the inner side thereof and then pass over the sheaves 15 and down through guide-eyes 35, projecting from the front edges of the plates of the coupling, the ropes crossing each other, however, so that pulling upon the rope passing over the sheave of one section will elevate the other section substantially in the manner described in my said patent.

' Having now described my invention, what I claim is- 1. A scaling-ladder comprising two laddersections side by side 'and' having? a pivoted 65 connection and a resilient connection to hold said sections normally in the same plane but to permit them to yield slightly.

2. A scaling-ladder comprisin two laddersections, and a coupling there or, the said sections being slidably connected with said coupling and said coupling comprising two plates pivoted to ether and having a spring for normally holding the sections in the same lane. A p 3. A scaling-ladder comprising two laddersections and a coupling member therefor, the

ladder-sections being side by side and slidingly connected with the coupling, said c oupling comprising two plates, one of which has a rigid hub at its lower end and the other being pivotally connected v with said hub and having an eye at its upper end, a spring rigidly connected with said hub and extending through said eye, and means for limiting the oscillatory movement of one plate relatively to the other.

4. A scaling-ladder comprising two laddersections having their side rails slidingly con- 1 nected together, the sections being side by side, one side rail of each section having an extension and a suspension-hook removably connected with said extension.

5. A scaling-ladder comprising two laddersectionshaving their side rails slidingly connected together, the sections beingside by side, one side rail of each section having an extension formed as a socket, and a suspension-hook having a shank removably inserted in said socket, the latter having means for engaging the hook-shank.

6.' A scaling-ladder comprising two laddersections having their side rails slidingly con'- nected together, the sections being side by side and each section having means for engaging a window-sill, means for hoisting one section relatively to the other, and rollers carried by the saidsections, to bear on the wall of the building and reduce frictional resistance to the upward movement of the sections.

7. A scaling-ladder comprisin two ladder-` sections having their side rails s idingly connected together, the sections being side by side and each section having means for engaging a window-sill, means for hoisting one section relatively to the other, rollers carried by the lower ends of said sections, and shoes IOO IIO

projecting from the upper portions of said sections, said rollers and shoes facilitating the upward movement of the sections.

In testimony whereof I have afiiXed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WINSLOW F. SAMPSON.

Witnesses:

A. W. HARRISON, ARTHUR H. BROWN.

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