56 



Light Folding Ladder. 



18 



19 



Art. II. Notice of a light Folding Ladder, adapted for various Pur- 

 poses in Gardening and Domestic Economy. Drawn up from Notes 

 and a Model communicated by D. Beaton, Gardener to Thomas 

 Harris, Esq., F.H.S., &c, of Kingsbury. 



This ladder may be constructed of any light elastic wood, of 

 which there are none better and cheaper than yellow Baltic deal ; 

 though some East Indian or American woods used by coach- 

 makers may be stronger and more elastic. It may be made of 

 any length, but from 15 ft. to 20 ft. is found most convenient for 

 using in houses, and from 20 ft. to SO ft. for the open garden or 

 orchard. When the ladder is opened for use, it has the appear- 

 ance of fig. 17. ; when half-shut, of fig. 16. ; and when entirely 

 shut, of fig. 18. The section of each of the sides, or styles, is a 

 semi-oval ; their junction, when the ladder is shut up, forms an 

 1R 17 entire oval in the sec- 



tion, as shown in fig. 



19. The rounds, or 



treads, are cylindrical; 



and, when the ladder 



is shut up, they fall 



into grooves, hollowed 



out, of the same form ; 



half of the groove 



for each round being 



in one style, and half 



in the other, as in- 

 dicated by the dotted 



lines, a, b, in fig. 19. 



The ends of each of the 



rounds turn on iron 



pins ; one end rests on 

 lA a shoulder, as at a in 



fig. 19., while the other 



end is suspended from 



below the shoulder, 



and turns on an iron 

 or brass pin, as indicated by /;, in the 

 same figure. The ends of the iron pins 

 which pass through the styles, are slightly riveted ; or, in orna- 

 mental ladders, these ends may be concealed by brass heads, or 

 by heads of ivory or ebony. The ladder may be rendered orna- 

 mental in various ways ; by painting it so as to resemble any 

 particular kind of wood, or the bark of any particular tree; with 

 or without twiners, epiphytes, mosses, lichens, insects, &c, repre- 

 sented upon it : by using a rare or beautiful kind of wood, and 



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