Fire fighting roof ladder accessory

A firefighting roof ladder accessory that is designed to be supported between two roof ladders. The accessory comprises a beam, having two foot supprot surfaces that are perpendicular to each other, and end boxes each extending over a ladder rail and provided at its outer edge with hooks that go over the rungs of the roof ladders.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The device of this invention is a support to be placed on a roof between 
two ladders. Specifically, the invention is to be used in aiding 
firefighters cut holes in the roofs of burning buildings. In conventional 
firefighting procedure, where the roof of a building is exposed to the 
fire, it is necessary to open a hole in the roof so that the smoke and 
flame will be concentrated there rather than weakening the entire roof. 
This also creates an updraft that has a tendency to clear the windows and 
doors of smoke so that the firefighter may evacuate persons trapped in the 
building and may themselves enter the building to fight the fire. 
In making such an opening usually a single roof ladder is hooked over the 
ridge of the roof. The firefighter must then lean over and chop a hole 
near the side of the ladder. This is a very awkward procedure. He may have 
to leave one foot on the ladder and put one foot on the roof. In that 
case, a burning roof weakened on the under side could collapse under the 
foot of the firefighter that is directly in contact with the roof thereby 
causing the firefighter to fall into the fire. 
By use of a unique and simple design the invention may be used with two 
conventional ladders to form a safe support for the second foot of the 
fireman. The applicant's invention makes it exceedingly unlikely that the 
fireman would lack the support that is needed for him to maintain his 
balance when cutting a hole in a roof even if the fire underneath is 
severe. 
While many devices are known which support either a step or a scaffold from 
one or more ladders, none are known to the inventor which use his method 
of hooking his invention to the ladders. For example U.S. Pat. No. 
1,886,921 (Tobin) discloses a structure in which a pair of ladders support 
a board 33, see FIG. 6 of the Tobin patent, which crosses between them. 
The support structure shown at the right hand side of the illustration 
(FIG. 6) hooks over a single rung of the ladder. The structure shown at 
the left side of the illustration bolts to the side rail of the ladder. An 
alternative structure shown in FIG. 8 has a bracket around the side rail 
of the ladder. These structures are disclosed as alternatives to one 
another. However none of structures boxes the side rail and hooks over two 
of the rungs of the ladders, as does the applicant's invention. U.S. Pat. 
Nos. 4,279,327 (Warren) and 4,531,613 (Keigher) are two patents that 
relate specifically to firefighting but show a rather different structure 
than that of the applicant's invention in which a single ladder has an 
extension at the top wide enough to embrace the area where the hole is to 
be made. These two patents show devices that limit the firefighter to the 
area where the ladder has been hooked and as such are not nearly as 
adaptable as the applicant's invention. In addition the footing is not as 
secure. 
The remaining prior art patents, specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 1,487,243 
(Jackson), U.S. Pat. No. 2,426,825 (Geary), U.S. Pat. No. 2,439,185 
(Patt), U.S. Pat. No. 2,856,112 (Broderick), and U.S. Pat. No. 2,948,349 
(Reddy) show variations in which a step or a scaffold is supported from 
one or more ladders. Some of the prior art inventions attach to rungs of 
the ladder while others attach to the side rails but no case is there a 
single structure that both attaches to the rungs and boxes the side rails 
as does the applicant's invention. Also, the step or scaffold disclosed in 
the prior art is usually a board rather than a metal piece having non-skid 
tread elements. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The device of the present invention is an accessory or platform that is 
hung between two ladders and aids firefighters in cutting a hole in a roof 
by increasing the amount of support that they have and minimizing the 
potential danger should the roof weaken underneath them by giving the 
firefighter a platform which is stable and will not collapse under his 
weight as he works to ventilate the roof. 
The center of the device has a sheet of non-skid metal parallel to the roof 
and a box section extending at a right angle to the roof so that at any 
pitch of the roof the foot of the fireman will have adequate support. At 
each end of the invention is a box which is deep enough to enclose the 
rail of the ladder regardless of the depth of the rail. The hooks at the 
lower edge of each outer side of a box have an opening that just tightly 
receives a ladder rung of standard size. The sheet material of which the 
hook is formed is narrow enough so that it will hook between the ladder 
rung and the roof regardless of the spacing of the ladder rung from the 
edge of the side beam of the ladder. Ladder side rails have several 
standard dimensions but because of the box this device will fit any of 
them. 
A hand hole is provided to the center of the device to make it easier for a 
firefighter to carry to the point where it can be used. 
An important distinction between the device of this invention and the prior 
art is that most of the prior art devices disclosed were designed to be 
used on ladders that are erected at the side of a building. The device of 
the instant invention is designed to be used when the ladders of a 
firefighter are hung over the peak or ridge of a roof in order for a 
firefighter to ventilate that roof. The invention is used with the two 
ladders that it is hooked to attached to the peak or upper edge of a roof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
Although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable those 
skilled in the art to practice the invention, the physical embodiments 
herein disclosed merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied in 
other specific structure. While the preferred embodiment has been 
described, the details may be changed without departing from the 
invention, which is defined by the claims. 
The firefighting roof ladder necessary as a whole is referred to as the 
unit 10 in this description. The unit 10 is comprised of side boxes 20 and 
a beam 30. 
As disclosed in FIGS. 1 and 3 each of the side boxes 20 have hooks 21 and 
25 which allow the boxes 20 to be attached to the rungs 41 of the ladders 
40; as illustrated in FIG. 2. The side boxes 20 of the unit 10 are of such 
width that they can be placed over a wide variety of ladders 40 despite 
those ladders having different sizes of ladder side rails 42. The hooks 21 
and 25 of the side boxes 20 are open ended thereby allowing each hook 21 
and 25 to attach to any rung 41. Each hook 21 and 25 has a end 22. 
Referring to FIG. 3 the position of end 22 in relationship to the ladder 
40 and the ladder side rail 42 may be seen. The end 22 of the hooks 21 and 
25 is designed to be sufficiently narrow so as to allow the hooks 21 and 
25 to engage a wide variety of rungs 41 without engaging or coming into 
contact with the surface of the roof itself when the unit 10 is attached 
to the ladders 40 on the roof. The width of the end 22 is designed such 
that only the side rails 42 of each ladder 40 will be in contact with the 
roof when each ladder 40 is attached to the roof. 
FIGS. 1 and 2 disclose a hand hole 50 located on the beam 30. The hole 50 
allows a firefighter to easily carry the unit 10 up to the point where it 
can be used. The hole 50 is large enough to allow for a hand to pass 
through it but it is not large enough to allow the foot of a fireman 
standing on the beam 30 to pass through. This is especially true if the 
foot of the firefighter is in a boot as is usually the case when the 
firefighter is out working to extinguish a fire. 
Still referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 the relationship of the beam 30 with the 
side boxes 20 and the ladders 40 may be seen. The beam 30 is comprised of 
two fire fighter support surfaces 31 and 32. When the unit 10 is attached 
to the ladders 40 that are hung from the peak or edge of the roof the 
surface 31 of the beam 30 is parallel to the surface of the roof while 
surface 32 of the beam 30 is perpendicular to the surface of the roof. 
This allows a firefighter to have a firm place of support upon which to 
brace himself when he is ventilating a roof no matter what the angle of 
that roof may be. 
The unit 10 is made of metal. As such the beam 30 and the side boxes 20 are 
of a stiff rigid construction that will not bend or break under normal 
use; for example, when a fireman is standing on the beam 30. The 
structural strength of the unit 10 is increased by relationship of the 
side boxes 20 and the beam 30. The side boxes 20 are at right angles to 
the beam 30 and are longer than the width of the beam 30. This allows the 
side boxes 20 to cover a larger area and thereby increasing the stability 
as well as the stiffness of the beam 30 when the unit 10 is in use. This 
is because by having the side boxes 20 at right angles to the beam 30 the 
ability of the beam 30 to flex on bend under the weight of a firefighter 
is reduced. The ends 35 and 36 of the beam 30 are welded to the side boxes 
20. Since the side boxes 20 are at right angles to the ends 35 and 36 the 
side boxes 20 are resistant to bending in the same direction as the ends 
35 and 36. This resistance imparts greater stability and stiffness to the 
unit 10 as a whole thus making it a uniquely stable platform for a 
firefighter. 
FIGS. 1 and 2 also show that the surfaces 31 and 32 of the beam and 
surfaces 23 and 24 of the side boxes are covered with gripping elements 
33. The gripping elements 33 reduce the chance that a firefighter or other 
person who is using the beam 30 to support his or her foot could slip; 
thereby increasing their safety when using the unit 10. 
For the purpose of the following claims a roof ladder is defined as a 
ladder having grappling means which allow the ladder to be easily hung 
from the ridge of a roof. 
The above described embodiments of this invention are merely descriptive of 
its principles and are not to be limiting. The scope of this invention 
instead shall be determined from the scope of the following claims, 
including their equivalents.