| 摘要 |
<p>Stairway 1 has plurality of steps 2 having top surfaces or treads 3, and arranged, in first configuration 9, as a staircase. A mechanism is configured to guide the steps to a second (figure 3) or third (figure 4) configuration, in which the steps lie on a common horizontal plane level with the lowest or highest step respectively. In transition, each step moves vertically. The steps are maintained in the same plane while moved from one flat configuration to the other and each configuration has the same footprint. Steps 2 may have followers 19, 21 and stringers 17, 18. Stringers 17, 18 may be of channel form. Lowermost and uppermost followers 19, 21 may be prevented from moving relative to stringers 17, 18, and one stringer may be mounted to a pivot and hydraulic ram to transition between configurations. The installation may have vertically raisable barriers on all or any of its sides. Method of use also included.</p> |
