Werner
Attic Ladder Mechanism
Werner is the name brand in ladders due to the superior stability of their products. While standard ladders have continuously improved over the years, the development of a smooth and stable folding attic ladder has largely been ignored. D2M brought change to this by seeding innovation through a full product concept development of attic ladders for Werner. The resulting mechanism eliminated squeaky springs and rickety mechanisms to dramatically improve the experience of attic ladder deployment and use.
The Details
Attic ladders are typically used infrequently, and have thus captured little attention from designers and engineers to improve them. The tend to be clunky and unstable, with noisy springs and unconcealed mechanisms that not only look unattractive, but also provide snag points for clothing. Werner approached D2M to explore ways of deploying ladders for a better user experience, while preserving the feel of the deployment interface in terms of motion and activation force. Our engineers accomplished this by employing hidden cam mechanism that eliminated the physically unattractive features of typical attic ladders, while adding stability.
D2M was later invited to engage in a subsequent project with Werner for sectional stage concept development for window washing platforms. The motivation behind this project related to Werner’s expertise in metal extrusions and their desire to develop new product innovations in the sectional stage market.