A mounting assembly for facilitating connection of ladder shoe-bearing ladder to a rotatable ladder base without creating two pivot points. The assembly is fixedly attached to a ladder shoe and is pivotably attached to a rotatable ladder base, but its rotatability, relative to the ladder base, is selectively disabled using an insertable retaining element.

A loading apparatus is provided that includes a set of stairs, a platform, and a handle. The stairs are attached to the platform and the platform has a locking mechanism. The handle has a first end that is pivotally attached to the set of stairs and the locking mechanism is capable of engaging the handle.

An access ladder assembly for a machine includes a fixed section, a movable section, a biasing member, a locking member, and a release assembly. The fixed section includes a pair of guide members and a fixed step. The movable section is mounted on and is movable along the fixed section between extended and retracted positions. The movable section includes a pair of sidewalls, and at least one horizontal step and is biased towards the retracted position by the biasing member. The locking member locks the movable member at the extended position. The release assembly operates to release the locking member. A manually engagable actuator of the release assembly may be disposed adjacent the fixed step. The movable section may include rails that slide within a hollow portions of the guide members as the movable section moves between the extended and retracted positions.

A stowable step for accessing a vehicle is provided. The stowable step includes a frame assembly and a step assembly carried by the frame assembly and movable between a fully extended position and a stowed position. The frame assembly defines a path of travel with a substantially S shape. This redesigned path of travel allows the step assembly to clear other structures (e.g., light tube structure) when moving between the fully extended position and stowed position.

A metal cover for a railcar sill step is disclosed for increased traction, safety, and durability. The metal sill step cover can be quickly and securely attached to a sill step. It has a textured metal traction surface for improving the safety of railroad car sill steps. The sill step cover includes top and front surfaces enhanced with rough metal texture so as to ensure traction when stepped on, and yet is more durable than grit-coated polyester anti-skid tape. Thus, a person is less likely to slip when using the metal step cover, which is especially important during wet or icy conditions. The step cover includes an extended clip portion for quickness and ease of attachment by bending outward so as to slide downward and then engage the rear portion of a sill step. The step cover is then secured to the sill step by screws or nuts and bolts.

Provided is a braking system for use with an extension ladder having a base section and a fly section movable relative to the base section via an adjustment rope. The braking system includes a bracket for attachment to the fly section. A pulley and an arm are secured to and movable relative to the bracket by the adjustment rope between a first position when no tension is applied to the rope and a second position when tension is applied to the adjustment rope. A cam is movable between an engaged position when the pulley and arm are in the first position with the cam engaging with the base section to prevent movement of the fly section relative to the base section, and a disengaged position when the pulley and arm are in the second position.

A mobile work stand for working on work areas including a fence. The fence includes a plurality of adjacent first and second fence sections that are pivotally connected to each other to enable the fence to be configurable in different fence positions. Each fence position is configured to enclose a different configured work area.

A method for controlling an aerial apparatus with a telescopic boom, strain gauge sensors for detecting the bending state of the telescopic boom in horizontal and vertical directions, a gyroscope attached to the top of the telescopic boom and a control arrangement for controlling movement of the aerial apparatus on the basis of signal values gained from the sensors and the gyroscope, the method including the following steps: obtaining raw signals from the sensors and the gyroscope, calculating reference signals from the raw signals, reconstructing a first oscillation mode and a second oscillation mode from the reference signals and additional model parameters related to construction of the aerial apparatus, calculating a compensation angular velocity value from the reconstructed oscillation modes, and adding the calculated compensation angular velocity value to a feedforward angular velocity value to result in a drive control signal.

A method for controlling an aerial apparatus with a telescopic boom, strain gauge sensors for detecting the bending state of the telescopic boom in horizontal and vertical directions, a gyroscope attached to the top of the telescopic boom and a control arrangement for controlling movement of the aerial apparatus on the basis of signal values gained from the sensors and the gyroscope, the method including the following steps: obtaining raw signals from the sensors and the gyroscope, calculating reference signals from the raw signals, reconstructing a first oscillation mode and a second oscillation mode from the reference signals and additional model parameters related to construction of the aerial apparatus, calculating a compensation angular velocity value from the reconstructed oscillation modes, and adding the calculated compensation angular velocity value to a feedforward angular velocity value to result in a drive control signal.

A firefighting or rescue apparatus includes an aerial ladder and at least one of a rung alignment status indicator and a load status indicator. The rung alignment status indicator can include a lighting strip having multiple lighting elements on the ladder that are selectively illuminated depending on whether first rungs of one section of the ladder and second rungs of another section of the ladder are aligned or misaligned. The load status indicator can include a lighting strip including multiple lighting elements on the ladder and/or at a control console that are selectively illuminated depending on whether the ladder is overloaded beyond an aerial ladder capacity rating or other value. A user on the aerial ladder and/or at a control console can view the indicators to evaluate rung alignment and load status.