nicely worn and weathered original early 20th century antique american industrial "dayton" safety ladder with bassick casters

hard to find and highly desirable c. 1920's antique american made industrial portable "dayton" safety ladder comprised of largely of "airplane spruce" wood with original heavy gauge steel fittings intact. the fully adjustable factory machine shop ladder was designed and patented by willett e. benedict of daytn, oh. the folding safety ladder was fabricated by the dayton safety ladder company, dayton, oh. the treads or rungs are reinforced with steel rods affixed (i.e., bolted) to the undersides and along the stringers. contains all-rivet construction with the exception of the step joints. the strong and rigid ladder contains a multitude of wrought steel cross-bracing (e.g., back leg stringers) configurations for supporting the ladder when fully extended. perhaps the most unique and visually distinctive feature is the broad working, segmented platform, flanked by bent tubular steel side rails. the fully adjustable rear portion of the platform can be made into an additional step, staging area (i.e., for paint cans, tools, etc.), or a stationary support for scaffold bridging. manufacturer markings are lightly incised along the vertical stringers. exceptional display piece for a variety of settings. the dayton ladders were typically constructed in 36, 52 and 72 inch sizes.