ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 29 -- United States Patent no. 12,208,772, issued on Jan. 28, was assigned to DEERE & COMPANY (Moline, Ill.).
"Retractable step assembly for a ladder" was invented by Gajanan S. Lade (Pune, India) and Shailesh H. Ingole (Pune, India).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A step assembly for use with a ladder comprises a first siderail member, a second siderail member, and a step. The first and second siderail members are mounted for pivotal movement about respective pivot axes between a suspended use position and a retracted position. The step has an unlocked position and a locked position. The step is yieldably biased to the unlocked position. In the unlocked position, the step...