Horizontal collapsing ladder
OwnerMark Ebbengainventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A collapsible ladder assembly for mounting to a trailer comprises a ladder portion, a trailer mounting bracket, two extensible arms extending between connection with the ladder portion and connection with the trailer mounting bracket. The assembly has a first pivotal connection coupling the ladder portion to each of the two extensible arms a second pivotal connection coupling the ladder portion to each of the extensible arms, wherein an axis of the first pivotal connection is substantially normal to an axis of the second pivotal connection; and a third pivotal connection coupling each of the two extensible arms to the trailer mounting bracket.
Claims17
A collapsible ladder assembly for mounting to a trailer, the ladder assembly comprising:
- a ladder portion comprising two opposing side rails;
- a trailer mounting bracket;
- two extensible arms extending between a connection with the ladder portion and
- a connection with the trailer mounting bracket;
- and
- a first pivotal connection coupling the ladder portion to each of the two extensible arms;
- a second pivotal connection coupling the ladder portion to each of the extensible arms, wherein an axis of the first pivotal connection is substantially normal to an axis of the second pivotal connection;
- first and second brackets for supporting the first and second pivotal connections;
- and
- a third pivotal connection coupling each of the two extensible arms to the trailer mounting bracket,
- wherein the first bracket couples a lower end of one opposing side rail to connect the lower end of the opposing side rail to one of the two extensible arms, and the second bracket couples a lower end of the other opposing side rail to connect the other opposing side rail to the second of the two extensible arms.
A connection mechanism for connecting a collapsible ladder portion to a boat trailer, the connection mechanism comprising:
- two extension arms, each arm comprising a first end and a second end wherein the first and second end are slidably connected such that the extension arms have adjustable lengths;
- two brackets, each bracket supporting a first pivotal connection between the respective bracket and the first end of one of the two extension arms, and each bracket supporting a second pivotal connection between the bracket and a lower end of a side rail of the collapsible ladder to couple the two extension arms to the collapsible ladder;
- two trailer mounting brackets wherein the second end of each extension arm is pivotally coupled to one of the two trailer mounting brackets to couple the two extension arms to the trailer;
- and
- wherein the first pivotal connection and second pivotal connection supported by each of the two brackets allow for pivotal movement of the ladder coupled to the trailer about different axes.
A method of securing a collapsible ladder to a boat trailer comprising:
- providing a collapsible ladder assembly, the assembly comprising a ladder portion and extensible mounting arms and the assembly further comprising three pivoting joints;
- and
- securing at least one mounting bracket to the boat trailer with a first pivoting joint between the mounting bracket and the extensible mounting arms, and a second and third pivoting joint between the mounting arms and lower ends of each opposing side rail of the collapsible ladder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.