US 12,078,014 B2
Stowable step assembly
Elvin Garayev, Aurora, IL (US); Andrew James Bowman, Bellbrook, OH (US); Dalton Garrett, Odessa, FL (US); and William Andrew Yount, Tampa, FL (US)
Assigned to Purdue Research Foundation, West Lafayette, IN (US)
Filed by Purdue Research Foundation, West Lafayette, IN (US)
Filed on Aug. 6, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/987,208.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/884,620, filed on Aug. 8, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0040795 A1, Feb. 11, 2021
Int. Cl. E06C 1/00 (2006.01); A47C 21/00 (2006.01); E06C 7/08 (2006.01); E06C 9/06 (2006.01)
CPC E06C 1/005 (2013.01) [A47C 21/00 (2013.01); E06C 7/08 (2013.01); E06C 9/06 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A stowable step assembly for climbing a vertical structure, comprising:
an articulating step assembly, including
a step configured to be coupled to a vertical structure and further configured to allow a user to place weight in an upward or downward climbing motion by placing the user's weight on an inward surface of the step while climbing the vertical structure, the step having a proximal end and a distal end opposite the proximal end,
two cam surfaces disposed adjacent the proximal end, one said cam surface defining the proximal end of the step and another said cam surface coupled to the vertical structure, allowing articulation from i) a deployed position allowing a user to place weight on the step, to ii) a stowed position allowing the step to be stowed away when not in use where in the stowed position the step and the vertical structure assume a tucked formation such that extension of an imaginary line along said inward surface of the step is configured to cross an imaginary line along surface of the vertical structure adjacent the distal end of the step in an acute angle,
two cam stops configured to stop the cam motion of the step when in the deployed position;
a hanger assembly, including
a connector configured to interface with the step on one side of the connector, wherein the connector includes two counterpart cam surfaces to the two cam surfaces of the step and wherein the connector includes at least one counterpart cam stop to the two cam stops of the step,
two hooks fixedly disposed on a second side of the connector, wherein the second side is opposite the first side of the connector, each of the two hooks having a hook cam surface configured to interface with one of a plurality of counterpart attachment arrangement of the vertical structure, wherein the two hook cam surfaces enhance ease of positioning of the two hooks on the counterpart attachment arrangement of the vertical structure; and
a fastener configured to couple the connector to the step.