858. Is a Ladder Considered a Utensil?
Shabbos 26:6
The remains of tattered mats are utensils whose purpose is permitted because they can be used to cover excrement. Scraps of clothes smaller than three thumb-widths by three thumb-widths may not be carried because they have no use, not even for poor people. Broken pieces of an oven may be carried; they are considered like any other utensil that one is permitted to carry. However, if the leg of a stove slips out of place, that may not be carried out of concern that one may come to reattach it.
Shabbos 26:7
The ladder to an attic may not be carried on Shabbos because it is not considered a utensil. The ladder of a bird coop, however, may be tilted, though one may not carry it from one coop to another out of concern that one may act in the normal weekday fashion and come to catch the birds. When the rod for harvesting olives is designated a utensil, it is a utensil whose use is prohibited. When a reed that has been adapted by a homeowner to hold a door open and shut is designated as a utensil, it is a utensil whose use is permitted.