Modular Scaffold Ladder with Adjustable Walkway and Support Legs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional scaffolds require extensive time and labor for transportation, assembly, disassembly, and storage, leading to increased costs and project delays, as they need to be reassembled at different work locations, and lack versatility in supporting users on both vertical and horizontal planes.
Innovation Solution
A modular scaffold ladder with a telescopically adjustable walkway and support legs, U-shaped brackets, and pivotally coupled ladders that allow for adjustable height and stability on uneven surfaces, enabling users to easily move and position the ladder along vertical and horizontal planes without continuous reassembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional scaffolds are used, then workers can be supported at elevated positions, but extensive time and labor are required for transportation, assembly, disassembly, and storage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the ladder and scaffold into a single integrated device. The ladder serves dual purposes: as a climbing structure and as the vertical support (upright) for the scaffold platform. This merging eliminates the need for separate assembly of ladder and scaffold components, directly reducing assembly time while maintaining worker support capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The ladder is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a climbing aid and as the structural upright support for the scaffold. The glide member integrates multiple functions: it allows the platform to slide along the ladder, provides locking pins for securing the platform at various heights, and enables the platform to be positioned at different angles. This universality reduces the number of separate components needing assembly.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional scaffolds are moved to different work locations, then workers can access different areas, but the scaffold must be disassembled and reassembled
Solution Approach 1:
The scaffold platform is divided into modular components that can be easily connected and disconnected. The platform consists of a base, sides, and optional top surface that can be assembled in a simple configuration. This segmentation allows the platform to be quickly detached from one ladder and reattached to another, enabling relocation without full disassembly and maintaining worker productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The glide member enables dynamic positioning of the platform along the ladder, allowing the platform to be adjusted to different heights and angles while remaining connected to the ladder. This dynamic capability provides work location flexibility without requiring disassembly and reassembly, directly maintaining productivity during relocation.
3Reliability
If the scaffold is designed to be rigid for secure worker support, then worker safety is improved, but the scaffold becomes difficult to transport and reposition
Solution Approach 1:
The scaffold is segmented into a lightweight platform and a separate ladder structure. The platform can be easily detached and reattached, facilitating simple transport and repositioning. When assembled, the platform provides rigid support for workers through the locking pin mechanism, thus maintaining worker support security while improving ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The platform can be nested within or alongside the ladder structure when not in use, creating a compact configuration for transport. The glide member allows the platform to slide into a stored position along the ladder, reducing the overall footprint and making the device easier to move while maintaining the rigid connection when deployed for worker support.
Data Source
AI summary
A multifunctional ladder for assisting a user to travel along a substantially vertical plane as well as a substantially horizontal plane respectively may include a telescopically adjustable walkway with a planar surface. Additionally, the ladder may include telescopically adjustable and independently detachable support legs connected to the walkway and extending downwardly therefrom. U-shaped brackets may also be affixed to ends of the walkway and a plurality of ladders may be pivotally coupled thereto. The ladders and support legs may maintain the walkway at a substantially stable position and the ladders may freely articulate about fulcrum pivot axes while the support legs and walkway remain at fixed and stationary positions. The walkway preferably has a male and a female member slidably engaged therewith for permitting adjustment of a longitudinal length of the walkway, and U-shaped rails directly coupled thereto for shielding a user from falling off of the walkway.