consider the decorating aspect for just one moment: often the most tiring part of painting or wallpaper hanging is the constant running up and down the ladder and shifting it a foot and then running up and down it again. all the time balancing brushes and paintpots.
po's electric ladder would be pretty much freestanding in that it has a smallish base and the ladder just ascends in an indian rope trick manner (for visual imagery only - no reptiles are required at all).
the ladder is plugged into the mains electic (I think asking 2 x AA batteries to power the thing is probably not feasible). a foot-operated rocker type switch will send the bottom step (the only step) up to as high as required and as specified by model. by depressing the switch will return the step to the floor again. castor wheels will make moving the ladder a doddle.-- po, May 04 2010 Motorized ladder http://www.whynot.net/ideas/1710Why not dot net?? Who do they thing they are? It seems like the Halfbakery - but with it's soul sucked out and replaced with dust and lint. [Jinbish, May 04 2010] Man Lift http://workplatform....com/automatic.htmlFor your larger rooms. (And, yes, it runs on batteries...DC car batteries.) [jurist, May 04 2010, last modified May 05 2010] Is this a ladder or a portable elevator? Either way, [+] if it is USB powered.-- swimswim, May 04 2010 [po]'s fantastic electrostatic domestic escalator.-- Jinbish, May 04 2010 Escaladder?-- swimswim, May 04 2010 This could be simply done with a long screw-thread rod which would also provide the gearing.
It would require mains power.
There needs to be a pair of linked pegs - handgrips and footpegs, the distance between them being adjustable.
It would look like a sort of long, thick pogo stick with a wide bar or plate at the bottom end, where the motor would be mounted.
Making it extensible would be challenging but not impossible.-- 8th of 7, May 04 2010 a handheld switch is out of the question - hells bells, decorating needs at least three free hands.-- po, May 04 2010 yeah - you want it voice activated. "Presto-extendo!" <vvvvvroooomm!>-- Jinbish, May 04 2010 Very good.A motorised platform could be made for existing ladders too. (+)
oh and (+) for [swimswim]'s title suggestion.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 04 2010 Actually I think this could run on electric batteries. A car battery can provide the energy to start the engine much more effectively than a few people pushing. And we only really need lifting energy that is equivalent to someone climbing.
But I think the missed opportunity is for a ladder that goes sideways while you are up it. It would have to be slow but it would be faster than climbing down, moving it and climbing up again.-- Bad Jim, May 04 2010 because its on wheels there is no reason why you couldn't give the wall a push while you up there to move it a foot or so. when I was a youngster I worked in a huge hospital records dept and we filed and pulled from the top of large ladders that we could push sideways at will. like little monkeys we were. LOL-- po, May 05 2010 // little monkeys //
No change there, then ...-- 8th of 7, May 05 2010 Perhaps a gas-powered rapid-deployment system for situations involving small rodents and when no convenient chair is to hand?-- coprocephalous, May 05 2010 [po] I sometimes wonder if Edward de Bono saw some of your ideas before making a small fortune with his.-- Dub, May 06 2010 random, halfbakery