Ladder leveling apparatus

Claim 1

A ladder comprising: a) a pair of spaced and parallel side rails with a plurality of spaced connecting rungs; b) a slider member fitted on each of the side rails of the ladder at a lower end thereof in an adjustable manner, each said slider member being a channel U-shaped in cross section having a width slightly wider than the width of each side rail so as to fit up against the side rail; c) means for retaining each said slider member to each of the side rails of the ladder comprising in each rail a plurality of holes therethrough vertically arranged and spaced apart at the lower end thereof, each said slider member having a plurality of vertical spaced apart apertures therethrough, staggered and in two vertical rows, matching up with said holes in the side rail, two bolts passing through two apertures in each slider member and two holes in the side rail, and a wing nut for each of said bolts threaded into the end of each bolt for locking each bolt in place; d) a self leveling shoe on the bottom of each slider member comprising a rectangular plate with a central lug extending upwardly therefrom and an anti-skid pad affixed to the underside of each plate, each said slider member having a lower central bore therethrough, a bolt for each slider member fitted through each central bore and the central lug with a nut threaded onto one end of each bolt allowing each said shoe to pivot; and e) each self leveling shoe having a pair of stakes extending therethrough on opposite sides of the central lug to enter an uneven terrain for helping to keep the shoe stationary, each stake having an enlarged flat head at the top thereof above the top of said shoe and including a bias spring between said flat head and the top surface of said shoe to normally keep said stake in an upward position on said shoe when said stake is not driven into the uneven terrain, and a permanently mounted stop pin transversely driven through a lower end of said stake extending out of the bottom side of said shoe to prevent said stake from leaving said shoe when in the upward position, said flat head being large enough to allow the stake to be easily pulled out from the uneven terrain.