GB1360832A - Height-adjustable access appliances such as an extensible stairway appliance for aircraft and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

1360832 Gangways WOLLARD AIRCRAFT EQUIPMENT Inc 15 July 1971 [16 July 1970] 33163/71 Heading B7J [Also in Division E1] A height-adjustable access appliance, e.g. a mobile extensible stairway for passengers boarding or leaving an aircraft, comprises two relatively slidable inclined flight sections 36, 38 defining a continuous pathway, the lower section 36 being fixedly mounted on a base 34, and the upper section 38 being slidably mounted on a carriage 244 which itself is slidably mounted on the base 34, and motive means for moving the carriage 244 and the upper section so as to extend and retract the upper section 38 relative to the lower section 36. The carriage 244 has rollers on its upper and lower sides which engage track portions of the inclined flight section 38 and a support frame on the base respectively, and movement is effected by hydraulic jacks. The appliance is locked in a selected extended position by pawls pivotally mounted on the carriage 244 engaging in notches of racks secured to the upper flight section 38 and the support frame, the notch spacing of the racks, in the case of a stairway comprising stair sections, being equal to the step spacing of the stair sections. The upper flight section 38 carries at its upper end a platform 40 which is adjustable, e.g. to register with an aircraft doorway. The base 34 may be a truck provided with retractable ground-engaging stabilizers 50, 52. The inclined flight sections may be conveyer belts.