Climbing device for vehicles

• US 4,333,547 A
• Filed: 04/01/1980
• Issued: 06/08/1982
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/1980
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Gustav I. Johansson
• Original Assignee: Gustav I. Johansson
• Inventors: Johansson, Gustav I.
• Primary Examiner(s): MACHADO, REINALDO
• Application Number:
  US06/136,253
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• Field of Search: 182/196-199, 182/91, 182/90, 182/93, 182/228, 182/220, 182/46, 182/219
• US Class Current: 182/90
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 3/00 Arrangements of steps or ladders facilitating access to or on the vehicle, e.g. running-boards construction of steps for railway vehicles B61D23/00 ; ladders E06C
• CPC Class Codes: E06C 5/02 with rigid longitudinal members
• CPC Class Codes: E06C 7/08 Special construction of longitudinal members, or rungs or other treads

Abstract

A ladder for use with vehicles is composed of two flexible supporting members and a number of foot steps, said supporting members comprising a reinforcement located in the vicinity of that face of the member which is directed outwardly from the vehicle so as to give said member a greater resistance to bending in the direction of the vehicle than in the opposite direction. According to another aspect of the invention each foot step at the opposite ends thereof is pivotally connected to brackets mounted in the flexible supporting members.

Claims

1. A climbing device for vehicles, said climbing device comprising a number of foot steps arranged on a frame composed of one or more supporting members, said supporting members being made of flexible material to allow temporary deformation of said frame without causing permanent damages in said frame when striking an obstacle, said device having means at one end thereof for attachment to the vehicle in cantilever relation with the other end of said device being adapted to terminate freely spaced from the vehicle in outwardly displaced relation, said flexible supporting members including a reinforcement located in the vicinity of that face of said members which is directed outwardly from the vehicle in order to provide said members with a greater resistance to bending in the direction inwardly toward the vehicle than in the opposite direction.

2. A climbing device for vehicles, comprising a number of foot steps arranged on a frame composed of one or more supporting members which are made of flexible material in order to allow temporary deformation of the frame without causing permanent damages therein if striking an obstacle, characterized in that the supporting member comprises a reinforcement located in the vicinity of that face of said member which is directed outwardly from the vehicle in order to provide said member with a greater resistance to bending in the direction of the vehicle than in the opposite direction, said reinforcement, at an upper end of said flexible supporting member, being folded about a sleeve which extends across the length of said member and receives a locking bolt of a holder attached to the vehicle, said holder having a downwardly opening seating the inside shape of which corresponds to the outside shape of the top portion of said supporting members, and said top portion being inserted in said seating and locked therein by means of said bolt.

3. A climbing device for vehicles, said climbing device comprising a number of foot steps arranged on a frame composed of two supporting members, said supporting members being made of flexible material in order to allow temporary deformation of said frame without causing permanent damages in said frame when striking an obstacle, said members each having one end thereof attached to the vehicle while the other end of each member terminates freely spaced from the vehicle, each foot step being constructed as a stiff and rigid element, and said foot steps at the opposite ends thereof being pivotally connected to brackets mounted in said flexible supporting members.

4. A climbing device for vehicles, comprising a number of foot steps arranged on a frame composed of two supporting members which are made of flexible material in order to allow temporary deformation of the frame without causing permanent damages therein if striking an obstacle, characterized in that each foot step at the opposite ends thereof is pivotally connected to brackets mounted in said flexible supporting members, the axes about which said foot step pivots being oblique in relation to the length of said supporting members so as to lend to the climbing device as a whole a stability which on one hand is great enough to avoid palpable lateral movements of the device upon climbing the same and on the other hand is not great enough to prevent the device from yielding upon striking an obstacle.

5. A climbing device of claim 4, wherein the angle of inclination between said axis and the length of said supporting members is 50°

to 80°

.

6. A climbing device of claim 4, wherein said supporting members are attached to said vehicle in such a manner that they slope outwardly and downwardly therefrom at an angle of inclination differing from the angle of inclination between the pivot axes of the foot step and the length of said supporting member, the plane of said foot step and the pivot axes forming an angle with each other.

7. A climbing device for vehicles, comprising a number of foot steps arranged on a frame composed of two supporting members which are made of flexible material in order to allow temporary deformation of the frame without causing permanent damages therein if striking an obstacle, characterized in that each foot step at the opposite ends thereof is pivotally connected to brackets mounted in said flexible supporting members, said brackets including a yoke having a pin-like projection which is inserted in the supporting member and secured therein by means of a locking element, said yoke carrying between the two free branches thereof an axle stub on which a cage is rotatable mounted, and said cage being joined to the proper foot step.

8. A climbing device of claim 7, wherein said projection has a non-circular sectional shape and is arranged in a tube which is anchored in the supporting member and has the same sectional shape as said projection in order to provide a non-rotatable connection between said foot step and the supporting member in question.