Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic Lightweight Heavy-Duty Ladder and Method of Making Same

Abstract

A fiberglass reinforced lightweight heavy-duty ladder, and method of making the same, is presented. The method includes impregnating rovings with a resin system and forming the impregnated rovings into a set of rails having a center portion, a left sidewall portion, and a right sidewall portion, where the left sidewall portion and the right sidewall portion each have an article roving density at least 10% greater than that of the center portion.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A lightweight heavy-duty ladder comprising:
 a pair of rails, each formed using a plurality of rovings and a resin system, wherein each rail of the pair of rails comprises a center portion, a left sidewall portion, and a right sidewall portion and wherein the left sidewall portion and the right sidewall portion each have an article roving density at least 10% greater than that of the center portion; and   a plurality of rungs attached between the pair of rails.   
     
     
         2 . The lightweight heavy-duty ladder of  claim 1 , wherein the resin system is filler-free. 
     
     
         3 . The lightweight heavy-duty ladder of  claim 1 , wherein the resin system comprises less than 10 weight percent filler. 
     
     
         4 . The lightweight heavy-duty ladder of  claim 1 , wherein the resin system comprises microspheres. 
     
     
         5 . The lightweight heavy-duty ladder of  claim 4 , wherein the resin system comprises up to 10 weight percent microspheres.