Just an update... I recieved an answer from Russ Stine on how the ladder works and have identified what I was seeing in the picture. Here is what he sent to me.
"Regarding the entrance ladder.
A linear gear is attached to the rod. A circular gear is attached to the lower folding portion of the ladder. When in the aircraft, pushing on the knob of the rod retracts the lower half of the ladder into spring clips which keeps it folded.
The ladder assembly is then raided manually by two handles, one at the top and one located midway in the folded assembly. The up-lock is a simple cam affair which turns 90 degrees. Now, there is a spring loaded rod/handle assembly on the right side of the pilot's seat which, I think, you are referring to in your email. This has nothing to do with the ladder. It is used to fold down the pilot's seat back so the pilot can exit in flight, otherwise he cannot get over the seat back with the top hatch closed.
The bathtub (space for the retracted nose wheel) is of course attached to the ladder assembly. This whole thing can be jettisoned prior to crew bail out.
Russ"
In that first picture above, the push rod with the yellow top is a seat release. The green bowed handle is one of the handles for pulling it closed. The picture of the tub I posted earlier in post# 103, the last photo, shows the other handle and on the bottom left corner of that other picture, you can see the rod he's refering to as the one that causes the ladder to fold up when stepped on.