US406185A - Ball-caster - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

J. C. WBIR. BALL GASTER.

Patented July 2, 1889.

mail

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UNITED STATES yPATENT OFFICE.

JAMES C. IVEIR, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

` BALL-CASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 406,185, dated July 2, 1889.

Application tiled September 4, 1888. Serial No. 284,584. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES C. WEIR., a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in. Ball-Casters for Furniture, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to ball-casters for furniture, trunks, and other movable articles; and it consists in a certain novel construction and combination of parts, as herein after fully described, and pointed out in the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings that form a part of .this specification, Figure 1 represents the caster applied to the leg of a piece of furniture. Fig. 2 is a vertical section, on a larger scale, of the ball-socket with the ball in place. Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the socket with the ball removed. Fig. 4 is a cross-section taken centrally through the half-spherical socket. Fig. 5 shows the rollerbearings in detail, and Fig. 6 shows the bottom plate in section. Fig. 7 shows one of the bearing-rollers in section.

The same letters of reference are used to denote corresponding partsin the several iigures.

The half-spherical socketA is provided with a flange a, and the bottom plate B, corresponding in diameter with the socket-flange, fits closely upon it, so that the screws S S serve to hold the bottom plate, as Well as to secure the socket in place. Bearing-points for the ball C are formed of a number of rollers D DX, that are arranged in two sets in the socket, one above the other. The rollers of each set are strung' on a hoop or ring E of cylindrical Wire, on which they are mounted to turn loosely and also to slide longitudinally, and the two sets formed in the same manner, except that the lower set, being located at the bottom of the socket, has its ring of larger diameter than the one that carries the upper set of rollers. The interior of the socket is divided into several recesses a2, of uniform size, by means of the radial ribs A3 A3, that extend from the crown down to the flange, and the cavity being made sufcientlylarger than the ball C for this purpose, the edges of the ribs clear the surface of the ball. These ribs serve the double purpose of spacing the rollers and furnishing supporting-points for the rings. Notches EX are cut in the edges of the ribs to receive the rings, and at these points around the circle each ring is held out y at suitable distance from the interior surface of the socketfcavity to keep the rollers clear and cause them to turn freely, While the rollers themselves are of suitable diameter to bear on the surface of the ball and keep it clear of contact at all points within the socket. As thus constructed and arranged, the rollers are free to slip on the rings E, as well as to rotate under the various motions of the ball, but the slidin g movements are limited by the ribs A3, so that the rollers are separated and properly spaced to distribute the bearing-points equally around the ball during-all its motions in the socket.

A caster constructed in this manner can be made exceedingly light', and yet capable of sustaining considerable weight.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isf The herein-described ball-caster, cons stiu'z of the socket A, having the separate internal recesses a2 and the ange a, the bottom plate B, ball C, and the bearing-rollers D DX, mounted on hoops E, all constructed and combinedv for operation as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand and seal.

JAMES C. WEIR. [L s] Witnesses:

C. W. M. SMITH, JOSEPH E. FORD.

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