GB2409969A - Ball castor - Google Patents

Abstract

A castor, preferably having a housing 3 containing a ball wheel 4 and ball bearings 5, comprises connecting means 6,7 for fixing the castor to another structure, e.g. a trolley [Figure 3]. The connecting means preferably includes a threaded bolt or rod 7 extending from the housing 3, which housing may also have a hexagonal or square shaped head 6 such that a spanner can be used to tighten the castor to the structure. The housing is preferably configured to prevent the ingress of foreign bodies.

Description

Castor The invention relates to a Castor that can be fitted to a trolley,

appliance, equipment, furniture or any object that requires castors, to facilitate easier movement and control.

The problem with trolleys is the difficulty in steering them, in particularly supermarket shopping trolleys full of goods, getting the trolley to stay in the direction in which you point it and push it and turning the trolley around corners.

The existing swivel castors fixed to trolleys tend to veer it left or right and render the trolley difficult to manoeuvre and control.

An object of this invention is to provide a castor that allows easy manoeuvring of the trolley to run smoothly and quietly over any surface in any horizontal direction and leave no marks on the surface.

Accordingly, this invention provides a Castor that can be fitted to a newly constructed trolley or object, or retrospectively fitted to an existing trolley or any other object.

Trolleys can have their front and/or rear castors unbolted and removed and replaced by the invention by screwing the threaded rod into the threaded hole of the trolley.

The Castor can be made of any naturally occurring or synthetic material including metal, plastic, rubber, wood etc. or any combination of naturally occurring or synthetic materials.

The preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Figure 1 shows the underside of a typical shopping trolley leg with its threaded hole and castor removed Figure 2 is a plan view of the Castor Figure 3 shows a side view of the Castor bolted to the leg of a shopping trolley Figure 4 shows a section through the Castor Figure 1 shows the underside of a typical shopping trolley with its wheel removed. Item 1 is a typical zinc plated leg of a trolley. Item 2 is the threaded hole in the trolley leg.

Figure 2 shows the plan view of the Castor. Item 3 shows the metal housing in a zinc chromate finish. Item 7 shows the stainless steel threaded rod. Item 6 shows the hexagonal head of the housing that a spanner can fit round in order to tighten the bolt.

Figure 3 shows a side view of the Castor with the Castor bolted into the trolley leg. Item 1 shows a typical zinc plated leg of a trolley. Item 3 shows the metal housing in a zinc chromate finish. Item 4 shows the nonmarking rubber ball wheel. Item 6 shows the hexagonal head of the housing.

Figure 4 shows a section through the Castor. Item 7 shows the stainless steel threaded rod. Item 3 shows the metal housing in a zinc chromate finish. Item 4 shows the non-marking rubber ball wheel. Item 5 shows the ball bearings that preferably do not need lubricating. Item 6 shows the square or hexagonal head of the housing. The threaded rod is integrated with the metal housing during the initial manufacturing process.

The housing is precision made and contains the ball wheel and ball bearings that act together to allow the trolley to move easily in any horizontal direction. The Castor is precision made so that any dirt picked up by the rubber ball wheel will not penetrate the housing and prevent the invention working properly.

Claims (9)

1. Claims 1. A Castor including a connecting device for fixing the castor to

   another object.
2. 2. A Castor as claimed in claim 1 where the connecting device includes a threaded rod or threaded bolt that screws into the threaded hole of a trolley.
3. 3. A Castor as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 where the threaded rod or bolt is integrated with the castor housing.
4. 4. A Castor as claimed in claim 3 where the housing contains a ball wheel and ball bearings.
5. 5. A Castor as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4 where the housing is designed with a hexagonal or square head so that a spanner can tighten the castor to a trolley.
6. 6. A Castor as claimed in claim 4 where the ball bearings can be lubricated.
7. 7. The Castor as claimed in any preceding claim where the housing is precision manufactured so that any foreign bodies picked up off the surface by the ball wheel will not penetrate the housing and prevent the ball wheel and ball bearings rotating smoothly.
8. 8. A Castor as claimed in any preceding claim that is made of any naturally occurring or synthetic material or a combination of these materials.
9. 9. A castor substantially as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.