The present invention relates to a ladder and, in particular, a step ladder with a set of folding steps.
Step ladders are generally known. In a conventional configuration, the standing surfaces of the second parts of the ladder feet of the step ladder disclosed in said document are oriented such that they are located parallel to the underlying surface and thus have as large as possible surface area of contact with the underlying surface. The second parts of the ladder feet are formed on the first parts in a plastic state. The second parts are produced from a softer plastics material than the first parts. The side members of the climbing part of the ladder taper toward one another in the upward direction. The climbing part is therefore in what is often referred to as an “A” shape. In order to compensate for the resulting inclination of the right side member and of the left side member, the second parts of the ladder feet are designed in the form of wedges, or at least in a wedge-like manner. The right ladder foot and the left ladder foot differ. The designs of the first part of the right foot and of the left foot differ. The right foot and left foot are therefore different. At least three tools are therefore necessary in order to produce the feet: two tools for producing the first parts and a further tool for fitting, and forming, the second parts of the ladder feet.
In addition, the climbing part and the supporting part, insofar as can be ascertained, may be of identical construction. The two ladder parts, in the opened-out state of the ladder, are at the same angle in relation to the underlying surface. It is therefore possible to select identical ladder feet for the two ladder parts, these ladder feet also allowing for the inclination of the ladder parts in relation to the underlying surface. This is the case because an abutment surface of the first parts, against which the second parts of the ladder feet butt, is not perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the side members; rather, in relation to a surface perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, it is inclined about an axis parallel to the rungs of the ladder.
Some leaning ladders include ladder feet which likewise comprise a first part and a second part. The second part, clearly, has a wedge-like portion which projects beyond the first part. This wedge-like portion makes it possible to compensate for the inclination of the side members of an A-shaped leaning ladder, in order that the standing surfaces of these second parts can have a large surface area resting on the underlying surface.
These conventional ladders, however, suffer from several disadvantages. For example, none provides a solution as to how, in the case of a step ladder having a climbing part and a supporting part with different degrees of inclination in relation to the underlying surface, it is possible to design ladder feet which, on the one hand, have the largest possible area of contact with the underlying surface in the opened-out state of the ladder and, on the other hand, can be produced using the smallest possible number of tools. Thus, it would be desirable to provide such a solution.
The present invention relates to a step ladder, in particular a set of folding steps, having a climbing part and a supporting part, which are connected to one another via at least one pivoting articulation. Both the climbing part and the supporting part here have side members, ladder feet being fitted at the one, first ends thereof, remote from the pivoting articulation. These ladder feet allow the step ladder, in the opened-out state, to rest on an underlying surface. Each ladder foot has a first part and a second part. The first part has first connecting structures, for connection to one of the side members of the step ladder, and second connecting structures, for connection to the second part, and the second part has connecting structures, for connection to the second connecting structures, and a standing surface, by means of which the ladder foot, in the opened-out state of the step ladder, rests on the underlying surface.
The object is achieved according to the invention in that all the first parts and at least two second parts of the ladder feet are identical, and in that, in relation to the second parts of the ladder feet on the supporting part, the second parts of the ladder feet on the climbing part are fitted on the first parts of the ladder feet in a state in which they have been rotated through 180° in relation to the first parts.
Further configurations of the invention can be gathered from the dependent claims.
According to the invention, all the second parts of the ladder feet may be identical. It is also likewise possible, however, to use two pairs of two types of second parts, wherein the types of second parts are axis-symmetrical to one another and the axis of symmetry runs in the longitudinal direction of the side members. The second parts of the first type are then fitted, for example, on the right side member of the climbing part and on the left side member of the supporting part. The second parts of the second type are then fitted, for example, on the left side member of the climbing part and on the right side member of the supporting part. Such a practice of fitting ladder feet which have two types of second part makes it possible to compensate for both the inclination between the right side member and the left side member and for the different degrees of inclination between the climbing part and the underlying surface and the supporting part and the underlying surface.
Further features of the present invention will be explained by way of the following description, with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:
Like reference numerals have been used to identify like elements throughout this disclosure.
The set of folding steps S, which is illustrated in
The ladder feet 3, which are illustrated in
The first parts 31 of the ladder feet 3 are formed by caps which are plugged onto the lower end of the side members 11, 21. The caps have a side wall 315, and these side walls enclose the lower ends of the side members 11, 21. The side walls 315 thus form first connecting structures, which serve for connecting the first ladder parts 31 to the side members 11, 21. A base 316 of the caps forms an abutment surface 314, against which the second parts 32 of the ladder feet 3 butt. The abutment surface 314 is inclined by an angle in relation to a longitudinal direction of the side members 11, 21. The base contains holes 313, which form second connecting structures of the first parts 31, these second connecting structures being provided for connection to the second parts 32.
The second parts 32 of the ladder feet 3 are essentially in the form of wedges. Protuberances 323 are provided on the upper sides of the second parts, these upper sides being directed toward the first parts 31, and the protuberances serve for connection to the first parts 31 and form connecting structures of the second parts 32. The protuberances 323 are pressed into the holes 313. An underside of the second parts 32 forms the standing surface 322 of the ladder.
Both the first parts 31 and the second parts 32 have surface symmetry in relation to the surfaces which are denoted by the section surface in
The ladder feet 3 for the climbing part according to