Stepladder with folding elements

Claim 1

A STEPLADDER, COMPRISING: A PAIR OF FRONT AND A PAIR OF BACK STANDARDS, THE STANDARDS OF EACH PAIR HAVING HOLLOW PORTIONS CONFRONTING EACH OTHER; HINGES SECURING TOGETHER THE UPPER EXTREMITIES OF THE FRONT AND BACK STANDARDS; FOLDABLE RUNGS DISPOSED BETWEEN AND PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT THEIR OPPOSITE ENDS WITH THE FRONT STANDARDS; A CENTRAL ROD PIVOTALLY CONNECTED WITH ALL OF SAID FOLDABLE RUNGS; UPPER AND LOWER FOLDABLE RUNGS DISPOSED BETWEEN AND PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT THEIR OPPOSITE ENDS WITH THE BACK STANDARDS ADJACENT THE UPPER AND LOWER EXTREMITIES OF SAID BACK STANDARDS; CROSSBARS BETWEEN SAID BACK STANDARDS AND INTERMEDIATE SAID UPPER AND LOWER RUNGS PIVOTALLY CONNECTED WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH SAID BACK STANDARDS; AND A SECOND CENTRAL ROD PIVOTALLY CONNECTED WITH SAID UPPER AND LOWER RUNGS AND WITH SAID CROSSBARS, SAID RUNGS AND CROSSBARS BEING RECEIVABLE WITHIN THE HOLLOW PORTIONS OF THE STANDARDS CONNECTED THEREWITH WHEN THE RUNGS ARE FOLDED AND THE STANDARDS ARE MOVED LATERALLY INTO CONTACT WITH ONE ANOTHER, SAID CENTRAL RODS HAVING COACTING FLANGES AT THEIR LOWER ENDS, WHEREBY WHEN THE FRONT AND BACK STANDARDS ARE ADJACENT EACH OTHER MOVEMENT IMPARTED TO ONE OF THE CENTRAL RODS TO MOVE THE RUNGS AND THE PAIR OF STANDARDS CONNECTED THEREWITH LATERALLY TO A POSITION FOR USE, CAUSES SIMULTANEOUS AND CORRESPONDING LATERAL MOVEMENT OF THE OTHER PAIR OF STANDARDS.