IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LADDERS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Druce, of the City and County of Oxford,
Solicitor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
LADDERS."
Sealed the 13th January 1865, and dated the 1st October 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Druce at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
October 1864.
I, HENRY DRUCE, of the City and County of Oxford, Solicitor, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS. IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF LADDERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing ladders in a series of pieces or lengths,
each piece or length being by preference of or about ten feet long, but they
may be of any desired length, either longer or shorter, according to the pur-
poses to which the ladders are intended to be applied. The pieces fit and are
free to slide one within the other, whereby the whole ladder is made telescopic,
and thus it can be extended to any length according to the number of pieces
of which it is composed. When closed up the staves or bars of each piece.fit
one behind the other and the ladder is in a compact and portable form. The
parts of the ladder are prevented from retreating or closing up when subjected
to pressure by the weight of a person or persons ascending or descending by
hooks or clips fastened to or revolving on the last round or bar of each pre-
ceding ladder, which hooks or clips. will catch hold of the rounds. of the under
ladder, and thus prevent it-shutting.

page_text: Ladders constructed in this manner may be used together or separately,
each piece or length forming a single and distinct ladder in itself. They may
be made of wood or metal, and the lengths may be round, square, or of any
other desirable shape as-experience may dictate.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Druce in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st April 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DRUCE, of the City and County of Oxford, Solicitor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent; bearing date the First day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Druce, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Druce, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Druce, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might. make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LADDERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Henry Druce, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said. Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE; that I, the said Henry Druce, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in' what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in constructing ladders in a series of pieces or
.lengths, each piece or length being by preference of or about ten feet long, but
they may be of any desired length either longer or shorter according to the
purposes to which the ladders are intended to be applied.
are free to slide one within the other, whereby the whole
The pieces fit and
ladder is made tele-

page_text: scopic, and thus it can be extended to any length according to the number
of pieces of which it is composed. When closed up, the. staves, bars,
or rounds of each piece fit one behind the other, and the ladder is in
a compact and portable form. The parts of the ladder are prevented from
retreating or closing up when subjected to pressure by the weight of a person
or persons ascending or descending by hooks, clips, or bolts, fastened to or
revolving on the last round or bar of each preceding ladder:
a
Ladders constructed in this manner may be used together or separately,
each piece or length forming single and distinet ladder in itself. They may
be made of wood or metal, and the lengths may be round, square, or of any
other desirable shape as experience may dictate.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a front elevation of a ladder
composed of three parts or lengths, and constructed according to my. Invention.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section through the line v; w, of Figure 1; Figure 3
is a longitudinal section-through the line x, y, of. Figure 2, and Figures 4, 5,
and 6 are views of the three parts or lengths respectively composing the ladder
shown at Figures 1 and 2 with one of the side pieces removed. Similar letters
of reference refer to like parts in all the Figures.
- a, a, are framés or side pieces of the shape shown in the section, Figure 2,
into and between which the rounds b, b, of the first ladder in the series are
inserted; c, c, are also side pieces free to slide in the grooves formed by the
frames a, a, and carrying rounds d, d, and e, e, are other side pieces free to
slide in the grooves formed by the pieces c, c, and carrying rounds f, ƒ ; 0, 0,
are bands of metal inserted in the interior of the frames a and c in order to
afford additional strength thereto. In the ladder shown there are three
separate and distinct ladders which can, if desired, be detached from one another
and used separately, while at the same time they may be extended as shown by
the dotted lines or to any desired height between the dotted lines. Each ladder
is pushed up to the height required, and in order to enable the ladder or series
of ladders to be maintained at any desired height within the space to which it
is capable of being extended, I form in the side frames a and e a series of
notches g, g; or I insert in a groove formed therein a metal bar or stay in
which the series of notches is formed, and into bolts h, h, fitted to the last
round in the side pieces cand e are free to take in the following manner:-
These bolts are connected to rods which run in guides i, and are free to move
and meet in centre so that at all times these bolts are shot except when it is
required to lower one or both of the ladders, when the bolts are withdrawn by
the finger pieces k, k, and the ladder theu descends by its own weight and at
whatever position it is desired to retain it, the finger pieces are released, and

page_text: my
the bolts fly into the notches 9 g. 11, are springs for facilitating the self-
adjusting action of. the bolts, and for preventing them from being withdrawn
from the notches at all times except when the ladders are required to be
lowered; they may however be retained at any desired height in other ways,
as. for example by means of hooks or clips, which book or clip the rounds of
the under. ladder; but I do not consider this an essential feature in Inven-
tion, and do not intend to lay. any claim thereto, for various devices may
in practice be found to answer the purpose of retaining the ladders in position.
Ladders constructed according. to my Invention will be found very useful for
use in buildings where it is impossible to admit a long ladder of ordinary con-
struction, also for libraries, as well as other purposes to which ladders are usually
applied.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that although I have described
in this my Spécification my Invention composed of three lengths or parts only,
and although I prefer the: use of three, yet it may for some purposes be found
advisable to make the ladders in more or less parts or lengths, two; four, five,
or even six, for example, and therefore I wish it to be understood that I
do not limit myself. to the number of parts or lengths, but what I claim is,
the construction of ladders free to slide one within the other, and capable of
being extended to and retained at any desired position within the limit of the
lengths, while at the same time each part may be. used as a distinct and
separate ladder, the staves, bars, or rounds of all such distinct and separate
ladders being in the whole one extended ladder, being equi-distant and of the
same length, all substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying. Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Druce, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
HENRY DRUCE. (L.S.)