Bridging device

A bridging device comprising:

• a housing mountable to a first point, said housing being an enclosed elongated structure defining a front opening and including a biased tilting cover;
• a stack of interjoined beams housed in a retracted position in said housing, said beams being supported by end plates located at each end of said beams, said end plates being adapted to be stacked adjacent to each other and to slidingly engage said end plates on each adjacent side, wherein said end plates slide relative to one another by way of a boss and key slot sliding engagement between adjacent end plates;
• a lock provided with each of said end plates to lock adjacent plates in the extended position, each of said locks is a pivoting lever pinned in a recess on said end plate and adjacent a key slot on said same end plate, through which a boss on said adjacent end plate protrudes, whereby said lever pivots to protrude into said key slot and obstruct said boss from sliding along said key slot;
• and
• a drive system adapted to drive said beams to slide one over the other to telescopically extend out of said housing from the retracted position to an extended position to thereby form a bridging surface to a second point, said drive system having a motor;
• wherein said housing further comprising a biasing means mountable therein and a restraining catch located at the front of said housing, said biasing means being adapted to provide an upward force on said beams for incrementally raising said beams during extension, said restraining catch being adapted to permit only the top-most beam of said rising beams to extend through said housing during extension;
• wherein an underside of each end plate is provided with a gear rack that meshes with a drive gear on a drive shaft driven by a drive source in said drive system, and wherein each end plate meshes with its own dedicated drive gear coaxially mounted on said drive shaft.

A method of bridging two points comprising the steps of:

• providing a bridging device comprising a housing mountable to a first point;
• at least two interjoined beams housed in a retracted position in said housing;
• and a drive system adapted to drive said beams to slide one over the other to telescopically extend out of said housing from the retracted position to an extended position to thereby form a bridging surface to a second point;
• wherein said beams are supported by end plates located at each end of said beam, said end plates being adapted to be stacked adjacent to each other and to slidingly engage said end plates on each adjacent side, and wherein said end plates slide relative to one another by way of a boss and key slot sliding engagement between adjacent end plates;
• wherein an underside of each end plate is provided with a gear rack that meshes with a drive gear on a drive shaft driven by a drive source in said drive system, and wherein each end plate meshes with its own dedicated drive gear coaxially mounted on said drive shaft;
• mounting said bridging device at said first point;
• and
• driving said drive system of said bridging device to telescopically extend said beams out of said housing from a retracted position to an extended position to thereby form a bridging surface to a second point.