JP2003118305A - Brake of wheel with rotor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a brake capable of carrying out two kinds of braking including in the longitudinal direction and in the lateral direction on a wheel with rotors in the circumference of which a plurality of the rotors are arranged. SOLUTION: A plural number of the rotors 10 rotating around an axis of rotation orthogonal with the radial direction around an axis 1 as its center as their center are furnished in the circumference of the wheel 9 so as to rotate in the orthogonal direction against the rectilinear direction of the wheel. Each of the rotors 10 is formed in a shape to form a circular arc of a wheel outer peripheral circle by a peripheral surface by reducing a diameter of its head end part smaller than a diameter of a base end part. The brake is furnished with a braking plate 30 free to slide to a braking position on the upper side or the lower side along a support frame 5 of the axis 1 from a non-braking position positioned between the rotors 10 on the upper side or the lower side of the axis 1 and to make contact with a peripheral surface of the rotor 10 at this braking position and a brake handle 39 to selectively slide this braking plate to the braking position on the upper side or the lower side. The braking plate 30 makes contact with the peripheral surface while sagging in the separating direction in accordance with sliding.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary body for applying braking to a wheel with a rotary body in which a plurality of rotary bodies rotating in a direction orthogonal to a straight traveling direction of the wheel are arranged around the wheel. It relates to the brake of the wheel with wheels.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The present applicant has filed Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-20611.
According to 1, in a wheel with a rotating body in which a plurality of rotating bodies that rotate in a direction orthogonal to the straight traveling direction of the wheel are arranged around the wheel, each rotating body is arranged with respect to a radial direction around the axle. The rotors are rotatably supported about intersecting rotation axes, and each rotor is formed in a shape in which the diameter of the tip end portion is smaller than the diameter of the base end portion, and the circumferential surface forms an arc of a wheel outer circle. I proposed a wheel with a rotating body. As a result, not only is it possible to turn the vehicle in the forward and backward directions freely without having to turn in the forward direction like a normal caster, but also the diameter of the wheel so that the step can be easily overcome. Even when the value is increased, the gap between the rotating bodies can be made small so as not to interfere with each other.

[0003]

However, although various braking mechanisms such as ordinary casters are well known, the above-mentioned braking mechanism for a wheel with a rotating body has not been proposed including the case of using it as a caster.

In view of such a point, the present invention provides a brake for a wheel with a rotating body of the kind described at the beginning that can perform two types of braking including only the front-rear direction and the lateral direction. To aim.

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides, according to claim 1, a radial direction about the axle so as to rotate in a direction orthogonal to the straight traveling direction of the wheel. A plurality of rotating bodies that rotate around intersecting rotation axes are provided around the wheel, and each rotating body has a diameter of the tip end smaller than the diameter of the base end, and the outer circumference of the wheel is circled by the peripheral surface. A brake of a wheel with a rotating body for applying braking to a wheel with a rotating body formed in a shape that forms an arc of, wherein the axle is positioned from a non-braking position located between the upper and lower rotating bodies of the axle. And a braking plate which is slidable to the upper or lower braking position along the supporting frame of the rotor and which abuts on the peripheral surface of the rotating body at this braking position, and the braking plate is selectively moved to the upper or lower braking position. With brake handle to slide Rutotomoni, brake plates, characterized in that exhibits a flexural modulus so as to contact with the deflection to the direction apart from the circumferential surface with a slide.

When the brake plate is slid to the upper braking position by the operation of the brake handle, the brake plate comes into contact with the peripheral surface of the upper rotary member with bending elasticity. As a result, the movement of the abutting rotating body along the wheel outer circumference circle, that is, the running of the wheel in the front-rear direction is restricted. When the braking plate is slid to the lower braking position, the braking plate comes into contact with the peripheral surface of the grounded rotating body, so that the lateral movement is restricted in addition to the front-back direction.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, a wheel with a rotating body adopted in casters on four sides of a hospital bed according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. The wheels 9, which are attached to the four corners of the vehicle body by the hawk-shaped support frames 5, respectively, have a diameter large enough to easily get over a step on the floor surface, and the wheels 9 are provided around the rim 2 having the axle 1 at the center. A plurality of rotating bodies 10 having the same shape and rotating in a direction orthogonal to the straight traveling direction A of 9 are arranged.

As shown in FIG. 2, each rotating body 10 has a rotation axis that intersects the direction of a radius R1 centered on the rotation axis O of the axle 1 with the radial circle in the same plane, offset from the orthogonal direction. Mainly X1. The diameter of each of the rotating bodies 10 continuously decreases from the base end portion 11 along the radius R1 toward the tip end portion 12, and the circumferential surface 19 of the circular arc at the rotational position of the wheel 9 to the wheel outer circumference circle C1. Therefore, each rotating body 10 is formed in a semi-spindle shape. Further, each rotating body 10 has a slit 13 in the intermediate region in the direction of the rotation axis X1.
By being separated via the
a and a base end side rotating body portion 10b having a relatively large diameter.

Further, the tip portion 1 of the tip side rotating body portion 10a
2 partially penetrates into the outer peripheral side half of the conical recess 14 formed in the base end portion 11 of the base end side rotary body portion 10b of the adjacent rotary body 10, and rotates around the wheel outer peripheral circle C1. Surface 19
Can approach the base end portion 11 of the adjacent rotating body 10 in the gap 14a.

Further, a base end portion of a plate-shaped bearing arm 20 extending in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis X1 is attached to the peripheral surface of the rim 2 and penetrates into the slit 13. As a result, the bearing arm 20 supports the common rotating shaft 26 that rotatably supports the distal end side rotating body portion 10a and the proximal end side rotating body portion 10b.

When the wheel 9 of the bed is pushed in its straight-ahead direction A, the rotating body 10 goes straight without rotating. A retreat is possible as well. The entire circumferential surface 19 of the rotating body 10 can form a substantially continuous wheel outer circle C1, and the gap 14a between the front and rear ends of the rotating body 10 and the slit 13 in the intermediate region are each small, so that the gap is small. Small objects are restricted from being caught in the area, ensuring smooth running.

When pushed in the lateral direction of the bed, the rotating body 10 which is in contact with the ground rotates and the traveling direction of the bed turns to the lateral direction. When it is pushed obliquely, the wheel 9 rotates about its axle 1 in accordance with the component force of the vector obtained by dividing the traveling force in the orthogonal direction, and the rotating body 10 also rotates about the rotating shaft 26 to move the bed. The advancing direction turns to an oblique forward or backward direction. That is, it is possible to travel in all directions of 360 degrees without widening the lateral width of the wheel 9 due to the non-turning of the rotating body 10.

A brake described below is attached to such a wheel 9. That is, this brake is on the axle 1
On the other hand, an oval braking plate 30 slidable from a non-braking position located between the upper and lower rotating bodies 10 to a braking position in contact with the peripheral surface 19 of the upper or lower rotating body 10, and this braking And a brake handle 39 for selectively sliding the plate to the upper or lower braking position.

This brake handle is rotatably supported on the axle 1 outside the support frame 5, and L-shaped finger contact portions 39a are formed on both sides of the brake handle. The braking plate 30 has a long groove 31 extending vertically in the diametrical direction with respect to the wheel 9 and into which the axle 1 is inserted.
3 is projected to the outside. This pin engages with a long groove 38 formed in the brake handle 39 in the lateral direction, and
Since 1 can slide along the axle 1, the braking plate 30 can move up and down from the non-braking position to the braking position where it abuts the upper or lower peripheral surface 19 in accordance with the rotational position of the brake handle 39. There is.

The brake plate 30 has a support frame 5 on one side.
It is slidably supported by upper and lower L-shaped lugs 5a provided on the other side, and the other side is prevented from coming off from the long groove 38 by a stopper 33a provided at the tip of the pin 33.

The braking plate 30 is made of a spring material exhibiting flexural elasticity in the separating direction so that the braking plate 30 can flexibly come into contact with the peripheral surface 19 as it slides.
Is formed in an arc shape with the center as the center, and each tip region is vertically divided into a plurality of braking pieces 34. Each braking piece 34 bends in a direction away from the peripheral surface toward the front so that the braking piece 34 can surely contact the peripheral surface 19 of each rotating body 10 whose diameter changes, and the innermost position of the braking piece 34 slides along with the sliding. It is set so that it can come into contact with the peripheral surface 19 having the shortest diameter.

The operation of the brake of the wheel with a rotating body configured as described above is as follows. Brake plate 3 in normal state
0 is in the non-braking position and does not interfere with the upper and lower rotating bodies 10 (FIG. 4A). When restraining the traveling in the straight direction A or the reverse direction, when the brake handle 39 is rotationally operated from the horizontal position to the position shown in FIG. 4B by the finger contact portion 39a, the braking plate 30 is raised and the upper side not grounded. The braking piece 34 comes into contact with the rotating body 10. As a result, the wheel 9 is restrained from rotating around the axle 1, and the grounded lower rotating body 10 is rotatable laterally. The braking pieces 34 are independently bent and abutted on the peripheral surface 19 of each of the rotating bodies 10 whose diameters are changed, and perform reliable braking in the entire tip region of the braking plate 30.

When it is desired to restrain both the front-rear direction and the lateral running, the brake handle 39 is moved from the horizontal position as shown in FIG.
When rotating to the position shown in C, the braking plate 30 descends and the braking piece 34 comes into contact with the lower rotating body 10 which is grounded. As a result, the rotating body 10 to be rotated in the lateral direction is restrained as well as the rotation of the wheel 9 about the axle 1. Therefore, after positioning in the front-back direction in the hospital bed, the brake handle 39 is braked in the front-rear direction, the brake handle 39 is rotated so as to move only in the horizontal direction, and then the brake handle 39 is rotated again to perform the horizontal positioning. Braking can be performed in all directions.

Although the case where the braking plate is divided into a plurality of braking pieces has been described, the lateral width is set corresponding to the width of the rotating body so that it can at least partially come into contact with the rotating body. You can also Further, it is conceivable that the brake handle is not of a rotary type, and may be configured to project from the braking plate through the support frame to perform the lifting operation. The present invention is not limited to the two-division type rotating body composed of the distal end side rotating body portion and the base end side rotating body portion described above, and the bearing arm is inserted and supported in each adjacent region between the non-divided rotating bodies. Of course, it is also applicable to a rotating body.

[0020]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when used for a hospital bed, casters for wheelchairs, etc., braking can be performed only in the front-rear direction or in the lateral direction, and therefore the front-rear and left-right positioning operations are easy. become. For example, after positioning in the front-rear direction, braking in the front-rear direction is performed, and only lateral movement is performed. Lateral positioning is performed, and when the position is determined, braking in all directions is performed and fixing is performed smoothly.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the plurality of braking pieces individually flex and abut the rotating bodies having different diameters, whereby braking can be performed over the entire braking plate. According to the invention of claim 3, the front and rear and lateral directions can be selectively braked by rotating the brake handle.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a brake for a wheel with a rotating body according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the rotating body.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the brake.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an essential part for explaining the operation of the brake.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 axle 5 Support frame 9 wheels 10 rotating body 19 Peripheral surface of rotating body 30 brake plate 31, 38 Long groove 33 Driven pin 34 Braking piece 39 Brake handle

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of rotating bodies that rotate around a rotation axis that intersects a radial direction centered on an axle so as to rotate in a direction orthogonal to a straight traveling direction of the wheel around the wheel. In addition, each of the rotating bodies brakes a wheel with a rotating body formed such that a diameter of a tip end portion thereof is smaller than a diameter of a base end portion and an arc of the wheel outer circumference circle is formed by a peripheral surface. A brake for a wheel with a rotating body for applying a sliding force from a non-braking position located between the rotating bodies above and below the axle to an upper or lower braking position along a support frame of the axle. A braking plate that is capable of contacting the peripheral surface of the rotating body at this braking position, and a brake handle that selectively slides the braking plate to the upper or lower braking position, and the braking plate But the above Brake rotating body wheeled, characterized in that with the slide exhibits a flexural modulus so as to contact with the deflection to the separating direction with respect to the circumferential surface. 2. The upper and lower tips of the braking plate are formed in an arc shape centering on the axle, and each tip region is divided in the longitudinal direction so as to form a plurality of braking pieces. The brake for a wheel with a rotating body according to claim 1, wherein the position of each braking piece in the axle direction is set so as to be able to contact the peripheral surface of the rotating body having the shortest diameter. 3. The braking plate has a long groove that extends vertically in a diametrical direction with respect to a wheel and into which an axle is inserted, and the braking plate is non-movable depending on a rotational position of a brake handle rotatable about the axle. A pin is provided on one of the brake handle and the braking plate so as to slide from the braking position to the upper or lower braking position, and a long groove into which the pin is engaged is formed on the other side. A brake for a wheel with a rotating body according to claim 1 or 2.