Aircraft servicing pit with retractable ladder
AssigneeDabico, Inc.
InventorsMichael Devlin, Eynon Johnson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aircraft servicing pit located beneath a surface across which aircraft travel while on the ground is provided with a ladder and a pair of reciprocally retractable handrails on each side of the ladder. Each of the handrails has an inverted "J-shaped" configuration. With the lid open the handrails can be drawn up out of the pit and rotated so that their legs can rest upon the tarmac surface at the edge of the pit. Service personnel utilizing the pit are thereby provided with stabilizing hand grips which enhance their safety when entering and leaving the subsurface chamber within the pit. When the pit is to be closed the retractable handrails are lifted, rotated, and lowered to their fully retracted storage positions.
Claims14
In a subsurface chamber defined below a surface across which aircraft travel and having a ladder located beneath said surface and an access lid movable to a closed position flush with said surface and capable of withstanding the weight of an aircraft traveling thereacross, the improvement comprising a pair of retractable handrail assemblies each having an upright supporting leg, an upright linear guide rail longer than said supporting leg, and a transverse connecting structure joining said support leg to said guide rail, and means for mounting said guide rails for linear, reciprocal movement relative to said ladder, whereby said handrail assemblies are movable between fully retracted positions below said surface and extended positions in which said connecting structures project above said surface and said supporting legs rest upon said surface.
In a subsurface chamber for use in servicing aircraft that travel across a surface and having a lid movable relative to said chamber between an open position and a closed position flush with said surface, said pit containing an upright ladder therewithin that terminates beneath said lid, the improvement comprising a pair of handrails on opposite sides of said ladder each shaped in the form of an inverted "J" with a leg and a guide rail longer than said leg, means for laterally constraining said guide rails in reciprocal movement between lowered positions beneath said surface and raised positions in which they extend above said surface, whereby said handrails are movable between retracted positions located completely within said chamber and extended positions in which said handrails project above said surface with said legs resting thereon.
In an aircraft servicing pit located beneath a surface across which aircraft travel, said pit being formed with walls, a lid movable between an open position and a closed position flush with said surface, and a ladder mounted within said pit beneath said surface, the improvement comprising a pair of reciprocally retractable handrails on each side of said ladder each being formed with an upwardly convex crook having a leg at one end and a guide rail longer than said leg at an opposite end, means for securing said handrails to said ladder in a manner permitting reciprocal movement of said handrails relative to said ladder and for laterally constraining said guide rails during reciprocal movement of said handrails relative to said ladder between retracted positions in which said crooks are fully withdrawn into said pit beneath the level of said surface and extended positions in which said crooks project above said surface and said legs rest thereon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.