Patent ID: 8695760
Filing Date: 2014-04-15
Classification: E06C

Abstract:
1. A collapsible attic ladder system comprising: a horizontal structural element; and an opening that penetrates the horizontal structural element; and a ladder having a stowed configuration and a deployed configuration; and a lower portion of the ladder having rungs and an upper portion of the ladder having rungs, the upper portion being extendable to an extended configuration and collapsible to a contracted configuration, the upper and lower portions being constrained to be in alignment with each other when the ladder is in its deployed configuration; and a mounting and pivoting mechanism located between the upper portion and the lower portion, the mounting and pivoting mechanism being mounted in the opening in the horizontal structural element so that the ladder can be pivoted about the mounting and pivoting mechanism between the stowed configuration and the deployed configuration, and so that the rungs of the upper portion can be extended above the mounting and pivoting mechanism through the opening and above the horizontal structural element when the ladder is in the deployed configuration; wherein the lower portion is extended in length when the ladder is in the deployed configuration and contracted in length when the ladder is in the stowed configuration, wherein the lower portion can be extended in length to a lower extended configuration by telescopic extension and contracted in length to a lower contracted configuration by telescopic contraction; wherein a spacing between a lowest rung and next-lowest rung of said rungs of the lower portion is greater in distance than a spacing between other rungs of said rungs of the lower portion of the ladder, thereby maintaining a gap between the lowest and next-lowest rungs when the lower portion is in the lower contracted configuration to avoid a danger of injury to hands of a user grasping the lowest rung during contraction of the lower portion; wherein the horizontal structural element is a ceiling of a lower room that provides a passage through the opening from a floor of an upper room through the ceiling of the lower room, so that the lower portion of the ladder when in the deployed configuration extends from a floor of the lower room to the ceiling of the lower room, and the upper portion when in the extended configuration extends above the floor of the upper room, wherein the ladder is configured to be able to be in a horizontal orientation substantially filling the opening when the ladder is in the stowed configuration and the upper portion is in the contracted configuration.