Patent ID: 8104578

Claim:
A hinge for a stepladder having a first front rail of a first section having a step and a first rear rail of a second section having a step, a platform attached to the first front rail and the first rear rail and a foldable tray mechanism having a first rail comprising: an elongated spring biased handle extending longitudinally along the first rail and a pin extending from and in contact with the handle; and a bushing adapted to be rotatably attached to the foldable tray mechanism, a first plate, a second plate and a third plate that are held by the bushing and rotate about the bushing that are adapted to connect with the first front rail and first rear rail of the ladder and the first rail of the foldable tray mechanism, respectively, the second plate has a plurality of depressions and the pin extending perpendicularly from the handle and substantially parallel to an axis of the bushing and biased into one of the plurality of the depressions to place the foldable tray mechanism and the first front and rear rails in an open state or a folded state depending on which one of the plurality of depressions the pin is disposed, when the handle is compressed, the attached pin is released from the one of the plurality of the depressions and allows the foldable tray mechanism to rotate around the bushing to an open or closed position independently of the opening and closing of the stepladder, the foldable tray mechanism disposed above the bushing when the foldable tray mechanism and the first front and rear rails are in the open state, the platform disposed below the bushing and above each step of the first and second sections when the first front and rear rails are in the open state, said plurality of depressions comprises a u-shaped depression having a curve edge and two other depressions having sharp edges, the u-shaped depression being a shallow depression to enable a small pulling force to allow the pin to snap out of the shallow depression, and the two other depressions being deeper depressions, wherein the sharp edges and the deeper depressions allow for a positive lock by the pin into the other two depressions.