JP2001001706A - Freely rotatable caster and vehicle provided with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle with casters such as trolly capable of advancing straight, although the casters can freely and eccentrically rotate. SOLUTION: Freely rotatable casters 8, 15 comprise brackets 3, 13 with wheels 1 rotatably mounted thereon, and main bodies 6, 14 that secure the brackets 3, 13 such that the brackets can rotate eccentrically by a predetermined degree d perpendicularly with respect to an axis 2 of the wheels 1. The main bodies 6, 14 are mounted on a vehicle body 12 such that each axis center of the brackets 3, 13 forms a tilt angle with respect to a vertical line of the vehicle body 12. As a result, the trolly can run toward a specific direction in a stable manner.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a universal caster mounted on the underside of various vehicles including a bogie, a wheelchair, a stroller, a work vehicle having an arbitrary shape, and a vehicle equipped with a universal caster. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the case of a vehicle, for example, a trolley for carrying luggage by pushing a steering wheel, for example, all four wheels attached to the back of the body of the trolley are free casters, or only wheels in front of the trolley are provided. Is a free caster, and the rear wheels are fixed wheels, or only the rear wheels of the bogie are free wheels, and the front wheels are fixed wheels.

[0003]

First, in the case where all four wheels attached to the trolley are free casters, the trolley can be moved obliquely back and forth, left and right, but even if the handle is pushed straight, depending on the condition of the ground contact surface. Has a drawback in that it is extremely difficult and difficult to move the bogie straight forward due to the lateral force acting on the wheels of the universal caster. However, in order to ensure the straightness of the bogie when the handle is pushed, only the front wheels of the bogie are free casters, and fixed casters are attached to the rear wheels. While it can be pushed straight, when changing direction of the bogie, only the left and right sides of the handle must be pushed to apply a left-right force to the free caster at the front position of the bogie away from the handle. Unless a considerable force is applied to the steering wheel, the front wheel cannot be swung to the left or right, which is not suitable for carrying heavy objects. Therefore, in order to make it easy to change the direction of the cart when carrying heavy objects, the front of the cart is fixed wheels and the rear wheel is a free caster. In this case, both the handle and the free caster are at the rear position of the cart. Therefore, the left-right force on the steering wheel is transmitted to the free caster as it is, and it is easy to change the direction of the bogie when carrying heavy loads, but it is difficult for the rear wheels to push the bogie straight because the rear wheels are free casters, Although the straightness is ensured by pulling the bogie, there is a drawback that the pulling operation of pulling and moving the bogie is difficult. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a universal caster capable of ensuring straight traveling and a vehicle provided with the universal caster.

[0004]

That is, the present invention provides a bracket on which a wheel is rotatably mounted, and a main body on which the bracket is mounted so as to be eccentrically rotatable at a predetermined eccentric amount perpendicular to the axis of the wheel. In the universal caster, the main body, in a state where the main body is attached to the vehicle body, the eccentric axis of the bracket with respect to the vehicle body vertical line,
The universal caster is formed so that it can be mounted diagonally so that the vehicle can travel stably in a specific traveling direction. For example, a bracket is attached to a plate-shaped main body that is attached to a flat back surface of a vehicle body with four bolts in close contact with an eccentric axis of the bracket obliquely to a vertical line of the main body. Also, there is a vehicle in which a free caster is mounted on a rear surface of a vehicle body, and the eccentric axis of the free caster is mounted obliquely with respect to a vertical line of the vehicle body so that the vehicle can stably travel in a specific traveling direction of the vehicle body. For example, there is a vehicle in which a main body of a conventional free caster in which an eccentric axis of a bracket coincides with a vertical line of the main body is obliquely attached to a flat surface of a rear surface of a vehicle body via a tapered spacer.

[0005]

The four casters having the eccentric shafts of the brackets obliquely attached to the vertical line of the main body are attached to the rear surface of the rectangular body in such a manner as to be inclined in the same direction with respect to the traveling direction. And four conventional casters with the eccentric axis of the bracket coinciding with the vertical line of the main body, are attached obliquely in the same direction to the flat surface on the back of the vehicle via tapered spacers. The eccentric shaft of the swivel caster is also directed in the direction opposite to the forward direction of the push bogie when the bogie is pushed by the steering wheel, for example. In this case, when both bogies push the steering wheel to move the bogie forward,
The wheel position of the bracket faces the rear of the bogie. In this forward state, although a left-right eccentric rotational force acts on the wheels depending on the state of the ground contact surface, when the wheel is eccentrically rotated, the vehicle body is lifted in accordance with the inclination angle of the bracket eccentric axis. As a result, when an eccentric rotational force in the left-right direction acts on the wheels in the forward state, a return force corresponding to the weight of the bogie, that is, a restoring force acts on each wheel, and the straightness of the bogie in the forward direction is secured. Is done. Next, in response to the direction change of the bogie, when an external force in the left-right direction is applied to each of the front and rear swivel casters via the handle, each swivel caster receives a return force corresponding to the weight of the entire bogie including the transported luggage. Eccentric rotation. As a result, the bogie can easily and easily change its direction of travel by the eccentric rotation of the front and rear swivel casters corresponding to handle separation, and when the handles are pushed straight, the restoring force acts on each swivel caster to restore the original It is returned to the forward posture, the bogie does not fluctuate,
It is possible to easily and easily move forward while maintaining the straightness. In addition, the front wheel is a fixed caster, and the rear wheel is a free caster in which the eccentric shaft is inclined rearward.Even if it is easy to change the direction of the bogie in a heavy transport state, it is possible to secure the forward straightness of the bogie. it can.

[0006]

1 and 2 show the structure of an embodiment of the present invention.
It will be explained by. As shown in FIG. 2, a bracket 3 on which a wheel 1 is rotatably mounted via a shaft 2 is fixed to a thrust bearing 4 so as to be rotatable rotatably at a predetermined eccentric amount d orthogonal to the shaft 2 of the wheel 1. The eccentric axis C1 of the bracket 3 is inclined with respect to a vertical line V1 of the main body 6 in this mounted state. The free caster 8 is formed by inclining the projection 7 by an angle S1.
Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the main body 6 of the swivel caster 8 formed as described above is placed at a position in front of the rear surface of the vehicle body 12 of the steering wheel 10 with the bolt 9 via the bolt 9, and the eccentric axis C1 is moved backward S1 Attach it at an angle and add a cart 1
1, a conventional free caster 15 having an eccentric axis C2 of the bracket 13 coincident with a vertical line V2 of the main body 14 is provided at the rear position of the rear of the vehicle body 12.
(2) The eccentric axis C2 is attached to the flat back surface of the rear surface by a taper spacer 16 having a taper angle S1, a taper washer 17, and a bolt 18 so that the eccentric axis C2 is inclined rearward by an angle S1.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In this manner, the free caster 8 having the eccentric axis C1 of the bracket 3 attached obliquely to the vertical line V1 of the main body 6 is disposed at the front left and right positions on the back surface of the rectangular body 12, and the eccentric axis C1 of the bracket 3 is moved in the traveling direction. The main body 14 of the conventional free caster 15 in which two eccentric axes C2 of the bracket 13 are aligned with the vertical line V2 of the main body 14 is attached to the handle 10 in a direction opposite to the pushing direction of the handle 10, The eccentric shaft C2 of the bracket 13 is pushed to the position through the taper spacer 16, the taper washer 17, and the bolt 18 in the traveling direction in the direction opposite to the handle 10 in the traveling direction, and the handle 10 of the bogie 11 is pushed. As described above, when the cart 11 is advanced by pushing the handle 10,
The positions of the wheels 1 of the brackets 3 and 13 of the front and rear adjustable casters 8 and 15 face the rear of the bogie 11. In this forward state, a lateral eccentric rotational force acts on the wheel 1 depending on the state of the ground contact surface, but when the wheel 1 is eccentrically rotated, the body 12 of the bogie 11 is lifted corresponding to the eccentric axis C1, C2 inclination angles of the brackets 3, 13. Will be done. As a result, when an eccentric rotational force in the left-right direction acts on the wheel 1 in the forward state,
A return force, that is, a restoring force according to the weight of the trolley 11 and the transported luggage acts on each wheel 1, and the trolley 11 can move straight in the forward direction. Next, when an external force in the left-right direction is applied to each of the front and rear free casters 8 and 15 via the handle 10 in response to the direction change of the cart 11, each of the free casters 8 and 15 causes the entire cart 11 including the transported luggage to move. It rotates eccentrically while receiving a return force corresponding to the weight, that is, a restoring force. As a result, the cart 11 can easily and easily change the traveling direction by the eccentric rotation of the front and rear adjustable casters 8 and 15 corresponding to the handling of the steering wheel 10,
When the handle 10 is pushed straight, each free caster 8,
The restoring force acts on 15 so that the carriage 11 returns to the original forward posture, and the carriage 11 can easily and easily move forward without swaying while maintaining straightness. The front wheels are fixed casters, and the rear wheels are eccentric axes C of the brackets 3 and 13.
1, the free casters 8, 15 in which C2 is tilted backward.
As a result, even if the direction of the carriage is easily changed in the heavy-carriage state, it is possible to easily secure the forward straightness of the carriage.
Each of the four front, rear, left and right swivel casters to be mounted on the trolley is the same as the swivel caster 8 in which the bracket 3 is tilted from the beginning with respect to the main body 6, and the conventional swivel caster 15 can be attached to the body of the trolley by tilting can do. Further, in the present embodiment, the conventional free caster 15 is attached to the vehicle body 12 via the tapered spacer 16, but the tapered spacer 16 can be formed in the vehicle body 12 from the beginning. In addition, the main body 6,
In the case where the rod of the swivel caster is inserted into a pipe or a hole by replacing the rod 14 with a rod, the axis of the rod and the eccentric axis of the bracket with the wheels can be tilted from the beginning. In the case of a conventional free caster where the axis of the body and the eccentric axis of the bracket with the wheels are aligned, a pipe or a plate with a hole attached to the free caster is formed by inclining from the beginning with the body. I can do it.

[0008]

As a result, the present invention has the effect of allowing a vehicle such as a bogie to which the universal caster is attached to have a straight running property, even though the universal caster can be freely eccentrically rotated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a cart 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially broken side view of the adjustable caster 8 of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wheel 2 shaft 3 Bracket 4 Thrust bearing 5 Stop shaft 6 Main body 7 Inclined projection 8 Swivel caster 9 Bolt 10 Handle 11 Truck 12 Car body 13 Bracket 14 Main body 15 Swivel caster 16 Tapered spacer 17 Taper washer 18 Bolt

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A universal caster comprising: a bracket on which wheels are rotatably mounted; and a main body on which the brackets are mounted so as to be eccentric and rotatable at a predetermined eccentric amount perpendicular to the axis of the wheels. An eccentric axis of the bracket is formed so as to be mounted obliquely with respect to a vertical line of the vehicle so that the vehicle can travel stably in a specific traveling direction of the vehicle when the main body is mounted on the vehicle. . 2. A vehicle equipped with a universal caster, wherein the universal caster is mounted on the back of the vehicle body such that the eccentric axis of the universal caster is oblique to a vertical line of the vehicle body so that the vehicle can stably travel in a specific traveling direction of the vehicle body. .