Folding multipurpose ladder.

The invention relates to a collapsible multipurpose ladder whose uprights are connected by paired and lockable in several positions joints which have two each about a common pivot axis pivoting joint parts, of which the first hinge portion has a to the hinge axis concentric bivalve locking disc which in the region of circumference corresponding to the working positions distributed grooves, into which one of said first joint part cross-second hinge part longitudinally displaceable guided, spring-loaded locking piece can engage, which can be lifted by one on the second hinge part pivotally mounted and connected to an actuating lever release lever out of the respective recess of the locking disk and the _Lösungshebel of the two spars associated joints are connected together by a rod. Such multi-purpose ladder is known from DE-OS 27 54 755th

The connecting rod is guided in the interior of a spar, wherein the actuation of the release lever is carried with mounted on the sides of the uprights knobs. This known joint arrangement is structurally difficult to manufacture and prone to failure during operation.

The invention has the object of providing a collapsible multipurpose head of the type described above so that the joints simply are constructive in the structure and the ladder is easy to use.

This object is achieved in that the locking piece comprises a rectangular bars whose height is approximately equal to the width of the second joint element and is guided in a recess in the side walls of the second joint element and an adjoining this guide member whose height only is slightly smaller than the clear height of the second joint part, whose width is larger than the width of the recess and out of a guide part for the spring, that the recess is wider than the width of the bar and forms a support surface for this, latches the holds in its unlatched position and that the locking disc, the grooves having the same direction each having an adjacent to the grooves approach which forms a stop face for the locking of the locking piece.

An inventively formed hinge for a folding multipurpose ladder contains only a few parts, said locking piece is designed so that this is done both in the lateral direction and in the direction perpendicular thereto. The lateral guidance takes over the bolt, which has the same height as the second joint part and is guided in a recess of the same. The guide is available here by the side walls in the second joint part. This recess has a widening, so that in this way a support surface for the end face of the bolt is obtained. When lifting the latch out of the grooves by means of the release lever of the latch is pivoted somewhat to the side, so that this disengages on the depositing surface in the grooves for storing: This means that the release lever during the pivoting of the bars not further actuated about the hinge axis to be needed. By training approaches in addition to the grooves that form an abutment surface for the bolt, it is ensured that when it reaches the next groove of the bolt is pushed away by the stop surface from its shelf and automatically engages the groove. Since the storage area for the bolt of the lock piece is disposed on a side of the guide side, therefore this bolt can be lifted only with a specific direction of rotation of the bars by the abutment surfaces of the noses of the shelves and engage the notches. These lugs and storage surfaces are arranged so that during folding of the bars the locking piece remains blocked, so that after a single actuation of the release lever the ladder can be folded completely hereinafter. When unfolding the circuit, however, the locking pieces of the paired joints lock into each at the next groove when the release lever is released. This eine.einfache handling of the conductor is achieved.

According to a further embodiment of the invention the rod connecting the two release lever is arranged laterally next to the rungs that are adjacent the joints. This has the advantage for the operator, that with one and the same grip is held and the head of the release mechanism can be actuated, which highly simplifies the handling.

For safety reasons, the stretched position of the bars is also secured by locking the lock piece in an appropriately arranged groove. This achieves that the bars can be spaced from one another in this position, so that serious injuries as they have occurred so far and have even led to the squeezing of fingers, no longer can occur.

An embodiment of the invention is described in detail below with reference to the drawings in this:<ul><li>FIG. 1 is a side view, partly in section, of an inventively embodied joint for collapsible multipurpose ladders</li><li>FIG. 2 the second bearing element in side view,</li><li>Fig. 3 is a section according to line III-III in Fig. 2,</li><li>Fig. 4 is a section according to line IV-IV in Fig. 2,</li><li>Fig. 5, the first support member in side view,</li><li>Fig. 6 shows a section according to line VI-VI in Fig. 5,</li><li>Fig. 7 shows a section according to line VII-VII in Fig. 5,</li><li>Fig. 8 is a plan view of the release lever,</li><li>Fig. 9 shows a section according to line IX-IX in Fig. 8,</li><li>Fig.10</li><li>to 12 the locking piece in a side view, end view and plan view and</li><li>FIG. 13 is a plan view of an inventively constituted and two spars together connective joint of a ladder.</li></ul>

In Fig. 1, a joint 1 of a folding multipurpose ladder is shown, the 2, 3 of the multi-purpose ladder connects the spars to each other. The hinge consists of a first joint part, which is shown in FIGS. 5-7. The first joint part 4 is composed of two halves 5, 6, each deep-drawn from a sheet metal and consisting of a guide part 7, which has an outer contour which corresponds to the clear inner contour of Holmes 2; 3. With this guide member 7, the first hinge part in the member 2 is inserted, as shown in FIG. 1. The fastening member 2 and the guide member 7 is effected by means of rivets 8, integrally formed on the guide member 7 is a locking disc 9 are formed, which is narrower than the guide member 7. The locking disc 9 has a plurality of grooves lO, which arranged at a certain angular distance are, so that the bars can be fixed in a 90 °, a 135 ° and a 180 ° position to each other.

One on each side of the grooves lO of the locking disc 9 are tabs 11 are formed, which each form a stop surface 12th These tabs are formed respectively on the same side of the grooves, so that, as will be explained later, this locking effecting locking piece cooperate only in one direction of rotation with a 19th The locking disc 9 has a bore 13 for receiving the pivot axis 14 at its center. In the area of ​​hole 13 the wall of the locking disc 9 is again fed, so that in this way a better guidance is obtained for the second hinge part 15, which is shown in detail in Figs. 2-4.

The second hinge part 15 also has as the first hinge portion 4, a guide part 16 which is inserted in the spar 3 by means of rivets 8 and fixed therein. In guiding part a lug 17 is formed and bent inward. This lug has a bore 18 which serves to guide the locking piece 19th The guide member 19 further has two opposite sides on a further recess 20, which forms a depositing surface 21st This storage area is, as is seen from Fig. 1, disposed relative to the grooves lO such that it is above the upper boundary of the groove which is opposite to the nose 11, but below the stop surface 12 of the nose 11, so that in the a movement towards the stop surface 12 cooperates with the latch 22 of the lock piece 19th

The second hinge part 15 likewise has a bore 23 for the pivot pin 14th Further, this, as can be seen from Fig. 4, fed in the region of the bore 23, so that in this way the recovery of the locking disc 9 a guiding surface is provided in the region of the bore 13, which in addition to the hinge axis 14, a centering of the two joint parts he brings.

The second joint part 15 has furthermore a bore 3.4 through which is conducted the in Figs .-. 9 to 12 illustrated the release lever 24, the axis.

In Figs. 10 to 12 the locking piece 19 is shown. The locking piece consists of a bolt 22 which engages in the grooves 10 of the locking disc. 9 At the iegel 10 a guide member is formed 25, and this is a rod 26 which serves as a guide for a compression spring 27th The width of the bar 22 is slightly less than that of the grooves 10, whereas the height of the bar 22 is equal to or slightly less than the height of the guide member 16 of the second joint part 15th The lateral guidance of the bar 22 is obtained by the side walls 28 of the guide member 16 of the second joint element 15th

As is apparent from Fig.ll, that adjoining the latch 22 guide member 25 has a lower height, and that this height is less by at least twice the wall thickness of the side walls 28 so that this guide part 25 28 comes on the inner walls of the side walls to the plant , The width of the guide member 25 is, however, substantially greater than that of the bolt 10, so that the locking piece is supported in the region of the recess 19 twentieth The rod 26 is, as shown in Fig. L, inserted through the hole 18 of the tab 17. Between the tab 17 and the guide part 25 a compression spring 27 is arranged that the bolt 22 presses in the direction of the grooves 10th

On the second hinge portion 15 further includes the releasing lever 24 is fixed, which is illustrated in detail in FIGS. 8 and 9. The release lever 24 is provided with two arms 29 which are connected to one another via a web 30th At the bridge 30, two tabs 31 are laterally arranged, which are bent over the web, so that between these lugs, a small gap 32 remains. Furthermore, the arms on 29 two holes 33 that have some deep-drawn walls for better guidance of the release lever actuated axle 34th This axis has lateral projections which engage in the gap 32, so that as a result a rotationally fixed connection with the axis of the release lever is achieved in the region of the release lever 24th

With the axis 34 a rod 35 is connected, which is substantially U-shaped and the two axes 34 of two parallel-arranged joints 1 together. This rod is depicted in Figure 13 and guided laterally in the region of a rung 39 so that it lies outside the impact area.

The operation of the joint is as follows. When you lift up the rod, the release lever 24 is moved downward and pressed with its contact surface 37 against the latch 22 of the lock piece 19 and pushes it out of the groove lO. By the movement of the lever the locking piece and thus of the latch 22 is also shifted toward the rotational axis of the lever towards, so that the locking piece is on the tray surface 21 for conditioning. Following this, the lever can be released and the joint can be rotated. If this rotation clockwise in Fig.l, so can the beam 2, without the engagement of the latch 22 in one of the grooves lO is feared to be the brought into a position parallel of Holmes. 3 If, however, the beam 2 is rotated counterclockwise in Fig.l, the stop surface reaches 12 of the nose 11 against the latch 22 and pushes it away from its support surface 21 so that it engages in the groove 10 is now due to the force of the spring 27 and so the mobility of the bars 2, 3 against each other blocks.

A joint according to the invention is characterized by a simple structure with high operational reliability and simple operation. The locking mechanism consists of a spring and a locking piece which is guided in the second hinge part and by einen.einfach shaped lever can be actuated, wherein the release lever of the mutually paired joints are simultaneously actuated, so that for this purpose only a tripping operation is required. Moreover, since the rod 35, which is connected to the axle 34 for the release lever, is arranged in the region of a rung 39, to easily disassemble or collapsing of the conductors and the actuation of the release lever can be carried out virtually simultaneously, resulting in a significant ease of operation with it ,