Telescoping Ladder Cascading Collapse Mechanism
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing telescoping ladders lack efficient mechanisms for safe and sequential collapse and extension, posing safety hazards and not complying with regulatory requirements for cascading collapse sequences.
Innovation Solution
A telescoping ladder design featuring a plurality of columns in a nested arrangement with a collapsing mechanism that includes actuators and locking pins, allowing for sequential collapse and extension by moving locking pins between extended and retracted positions through a ramp surface mechanism, enabling compliance with safety regulations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a telescoping ladder uses a simple collapse mechanism, then the device complexity is reduced, but the ladder cannot achieve sequential collapse and extension, compromising safety and regulatory compliance
Solution Approach 1:
The collapse mechanism is segmented into multiple independent actuators, each controlling a specific locking pin at different levels of the ladder. This segmentation enables sequential collapse operation where lower sections collapse before upper sections, ensuring safety compliance while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanism performs preliminary actions by first collapsing lower sections of the ladder before allowing upper sections to collapse. The actuators are designed to activate in a predetermined sequence, ensuring that the ladder structure remains stable during the collapse process and meets safety regulations
2Ease of manufacture
If the ladder structure is simplified for ease of manufacture, then manufacturing cost and complexity are reduced, but the connector assemblies cannot provide effective sequential locking and release functionality
Solution Approach 1:
The connector assemblies utilize a nested design where locking pins are integrated within the connector structure itself. The pins nest within the connector body and engage with corresponding features on adjacent ladder sections, providing sequential locking and release functionality while maintaining simple, integrated construction that is easy to manufacture
Solution Approach 2:
The connector assemblies are designed to automatically perform the locking and release functions through the actuator mechanism. When an actuator moves, it automatically drives the locking pin to engage or disengage from the ladder sections, eliminating the need for complex manual operation mechanisms and simplifying both manufacturing and operation
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design allows for safe and efficient sequential collapse and extension of the ladder, ensuring compliance with safety regulations and simplifying the construction of connector assemblies, while maintaining stability and ease of use.
Implementation Method 1
Each actuator can have a ramp surface permitting travel of a shoulder portion of the corresponding locking pin, such that a movement of each actuator in a direction parallel to the axis of the plurality of the columns is coupled to a movement of the corresponding locking pin between the extended position and the retracted position in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the plurality of columns
Data Source
AI summary
A telescoping ladder is provided, that includes a plurality of columns disposed in a nested arrangement for relative axial movement in a telescopic fashion between a fully-extended position and a collapsed position. The columns are connected to rungs by way of connector assemblies. Each connector assembly has a locking pin moveable between an extended position or a retracted position for extending into or retracting out of openings of adjacent columns to selectively lock or release the columns respectively. The telescoping ladder includes a plurality of actuators that permit collapsing the ladder in a sequential manner, the sequence involving collapsing the columns on a lower portion of the ladder prior to collapsing columns immediately thereabove.