JP2013241170A - Caster - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a caster having increased quietness which suppresses noise and vibration in motion.SOLUTION: A caster is characterized by being provided with: at least two support rollers 3 that support a wheel 2 by coming into contact with a circumferential surface of the wheel 2 when the wheel 2 is in contact with a ground surface Y; and an axle 22 that, when the wheel 2 is in contact with the ground surface Y, is in a non-contact state with the center hole 21 and that goes through the center hole 21 of the wheel section 2. It is desirable for the support rollers 3 to be disposed diagonally above the wheel 2 to the right and the left thereof in the side view of the wheel 2.

Description

  The present invention relates to a caster that suppresses vibration, noise, and the like and is excellent in quietness.

The caster is attached to the bottom surface of a bag such as a suitcase, a carriage, a chair, a table, etc., to facilitate the movement thereof.
A caster wheel is often attached to the tip of a bifurcated fork portion via a rotating shaft. A certain amount of clearance is provided between the rotating shaft and the wheel shaft hole so that the wheel can rotate. Therefore, the wheel easily swings up and down during rotation, which may cause vibration and noise. .

  In view of this, casters that suppress vibration and noise using coil springs, leaf springs, elastic members, and the like have been developed. For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses a caster in which a bearing that receives a rotating shaft is formed with a buffer member such as rubber or elastomer to suppress vibration and noise.

JP 2008-254565 A

If the wheels of the casters are made of pneumatic tires like automobiles, vibration and noise can be suppressed, and the noise reduction is improved, but the cost is high. Also, you must consider how to deal with air leaks.
The inventor of the present invention has improved a conventional caster, and has come up with a caster excellent in quietness without requiring a significant design change.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a caster that suppresses vibrations and noise during movement and has excellent silence.

  The caster of the present invention, when the wheel unit is in contact with the grounding surface, contacts the outer peripheral surface of the wheel unit to support the wheel unit, at least two support roller units disposed above the wheel unit, and the wheel unit And a shaft portion inserted through the center hole, which is in a non-contact state with the center hole of the wheel portion when grounded on the ground surface.

  It is preferable that the support roller portion is disposed obliquely above and to the left and right of the wheel portion in a side view of the wheel portion.

  When the wheel portion is grounded, the caster rotates while being supported by at least two support rollers provided above the wheel portion, and the center hole of the wheel portion is in a non-contact state separated from the shaft portion. Since the wheel portion can be rotated while being supported by each support roller, the wheel portion is less likely to swing up and down, and vibration and noise can be suppressed and quietness can be improved.

  The outer peripheral surface of a wheel part or a support roller part can be formed with an elastic member, and this can further improve the silence.

It is a side view of the caster of a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view of the caster of FIG. It is AA sectional drawing of the caster of FIG. It is BB sectional drawing of the caster of FIG. It is CC sectional drawing of the caster of FIG. It is the figure which showed the state which lifted the caster of FIG. 1 upwards. It is a side view of the caster of 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is DD sectional drawing of the caster of FIG. It is the elements on larger scale which showed the modification of the caster of FIG.

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the caster of the present invention will be described.

The caster 1 of 1st embodiment of this invention is equipped with the wheel part 2 and the support roller part 3, as shown in FIGS. 1-5, and the wheel part 2 and the support roller part are provided in the forked part 4 forcibly. 3 is attached.
Hereinafter, although the case where the caster 1 is applied to a bag such as a suitcase will be described, the caster of the present invention is not limited to this, and can be attached to a moving body such as a carriage, a chair, and a table. When applied to a moving body other than a bag, the size, material, and the like can be appropriately changed according to the size and weight of the moving body.

The wheel part 2 is formed so as to be grounded on a grounding surface Y such as the ground or the floor and to rotate when the cage is moved.
The wheel portion 2 can be formed in a disk shape having a circular center hole 21 at the center, and can be formed from a metal such as iron or aluminum, a synthetic resin such as polystyrene or polyester, or the like. The wheel part 2 can be formed to have a diameter of 30 mm to 80 mm, preferably a diameter of 40 mm to 70 mm, for example. The wheel portion 2 can be attached to the tip portion of the fork portion 4 via the shaft portion 22.

  The shaft portion 22 is formed in a cylindrical shape that can be inserted into the center hole 21 and formed so that the wheel portion 2 can be supported when the heel is lifted. The shaft portion 22 can be formed from a metal such as iron or aluminum, or a synthetic resin such as polystyrene or polyester. A rivet or the like can also be used as the shaft portion 22 and is preferably caulked and fixed so as not to swing with respect to the fork portion 4.

  The shaft portion 22 is formed to have a larger diameter than the center hole 21 so that an appropriate gap is formed with respect to the center hole 21. For example, the outer diameter of the shaft portion 22 is 30% to the inner diameter of the center hole 21. It can be formed to be 70%, preferably 40% to 60%. More specifically, for example, the outer diameter of the shaft portion 22 is 3.0 mm to 6.0 mm, preferably 4.0 mm to 5.0 mm, and the inner diameter of the center hole 21 is 6.0 mm to 10.0 mm, preferably It can be set to 7.0 mm to 9.0 mm.

The outer peripheral surface 23 of the wheel part 2 can be formed from an elastic member having elasticity, and as the elastic member, for example, rubber such as styrene, olefin, urethane, acrylic, polyester, polyamide, or the like is used. be able to. When the outer peripheral surface 23 is formed of an elastic member, it can be formed by forming the elastic member into a ring shape and fitting it on the outer periphery of the wheel portion 2.
As shown in FIG. 4, urethane 24 may be disposed inside the outer peripheral surface 23. Thereby, vibration can be suppressed.

When the wheel unit 2 contacts the ground surface Y, the support roller 3 contacts the outer peripheral surface 23 of the wheel unit 2 to support the wheel unit 2 from above and rotates together with the wheel unit 2. The center hole 22 and the shaft portion 21 can be brought into a non-contact state in which they do not contact each other.
The support roller 3 can be formed in a cylindrical shape having a circular shaft hole 31, and can be formed from a metal such as aluminum, a synthetic resin such as polystyrene or polyester, or the like. The support roller 3 is formed to have a diameter of 20% to 40%, preferably 25% to 35%, for example, with respect to the diameter of the wheel portion 2, and more specifically, for example, a diameter of 10 mm to 30 mm, Preferably, it can be formed to have a diameter of 12 mm to 20 mm. The support roller 3 can be rotatably attached to the fork portion 4 via a cylindrical rotation shaft 32.

The support roller 3 can be disposed above the wheel portion 2 and is preferably disposed obliquely above and to the left and right of the wheel portion 2 in a side view of the wheel portion 2. More specifically, when the wheel portion 2 is in contact with the ground, as shown in FIG. 3, the elevation angle α with respect to the horizontal line passing through the center of the wheel portion 2 is 30 ° to 70 °, particularly 40 ° to 60 °. It is preferable to arrange them. Further, it is preferable that the two support rollers 3 are provided at positions that are symmetrical.
In this embodiment, two support rollers are provided, but the present invention is not limited to this, and three, four, or more support rollers may be provided.

  The shaft hole 31 is preferably formed so that the inner diameter thereof is substantially the same as the outer diameter of the rotating shaft 32 so that the rotating shaft 32 can be inserted through the gap as much as possible. In addition, it is preferable to form a spiral groove 34 on the inner peripheral surface of the shaft hole 31, so that the oil or grease that has been lubricated easily penetrates into the inside, and the support roller 3 can easily rotate.

  The rotating shaft 32 is arranged so as to be parallel to the shaft portion 22 and can be formed of a metal such as iron or aluminum, a synthetic resin such as polystyrene or polyester, or the like. A rivet or the like can also be used as the rotating shaft 32, and it is preferable that the rotating shaft 32 is fixed by caulking so as not to swing with respect to the fork portion 4.

  The outer peripheral surface 33 of the support roller 3 is preferably formed of an elastic member having elasticity, and as the elastic member, for example, rubber such as styrene, olefin, urethane, acrylic, polyester, and polyamide is used. be able to. When the outer peripheral surface 33 is formed of an elastic member, it can be formed by forming the elastic member into a cylindrical shape and fitting it to the outer periphery of the support roller 3.

The fork part 4 can have a shape having left and right hanging pieces 42 suspended from a horizontal upper surface 41, and can be attached so that the wheel part 2 and the supporting roller part 3 are sandwiched between the left and right hanging pieces 42. it can.
The fork portion 4 can fix the upper surface 41 to the bottom surface of the heel, and may be fixed directly to the bottom surface of the heel or may be fixed via a mounting seat or the like. Further, it is preferably fixed so as to be rotatable through a thrust bearing 43 or the like.

Hereinafter, an example of the operation of the caster 1 will be described.
When the caster 1 is placed on a ground surface Y such as the ground or floor and the wheel portion 2 is grounded, the caster 1 has an outer peripheral surface 23 of the wheel portion 2 and an outer peripheral surface 33 of the support roller 3 as shown in FIG. And the wheel portion 2 is supported by the support roller 3. At this time, the shaft portion 21 of the wheel portion 2 is positioned substantially at the center of the center hole 22, and the shaft portion 21 and the center hole 22 are separated from each other.
When the heel is moved in the direction of the arrow X shown in FIG. 3, the wheel portion 2 rotates due to friction with the ground contact surface Y. At this time, the wheel portion 2 rotates together with the support roller 3, and can move while maintaining the non-contact state between the shaft portion 21 and the center hole 22, and the wheel portion 2 is floated with respect to the shaft portion 21. You can move with.

  Thus, since the wheel part 2 rotates by being pinched | interposed between the ground-contact surface Y and the two support rollers 3, the caster 1 suppresses generation | occurrence | production of a vibration, a noise, etc. that the wheel part 2 is hard to shake up and down. be able to. Further, when the wheel portion 2 rotates, the shaft portion 21 and the center hole 22 are not in contact with each other, so that noise or the like is hardly generated. If the outer peripheral surface 23 of the wheel part 2 and the outer peripheral surface 33 of the support roller 3 are formed of an elastic member, it is possible to further prevent generation of noise and vibration.

  When the heel is lifted upward, as shown in FIG. 6, the wheel portion 2 falls slightly downward, and the stop hole 21 and the shaft portion 22 are in contact with each other and are supported by the shaft portion 22. . The wheel part 2 leaves | separates from the support roller part 3, and will be in a non-contact state.

Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the caster of the present invention will be described.
In describing the caster according to the second embodiment, the same portions as those in the above embodiment are denoted by the same names and reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.
As shown in FIG. 7 or 8, the caster 11 of the second embodiment of the present invention mainly has the shapes of the outer peripheral surface 23 of the wheel portion 2 and the outer peripheral surface 33 of the support roller 3 in the caster 1 of the first embodiment. It has changed.

  The caster 11 is provided with a ridge 5 over the entire circumference near the center in the width direction of the outer peripheral surface 23 of the wheel portion 2. The protrusion 5 is formed in a flat rectangular shape in cross section. When the heel is moved, the peripheral surface 51 of the ridge 5 is grounded and the wheel portion 2 is rotated.

On the outer peripheral surface 33 of the support roller 3, a concave groove 6 is formed over the entire circumference in the vicinity of the center in the width direction. The concave groove 6 is formed to be slightly wider than the ridge 5, slightly deeper than the height of the ridge 5, and formed so that the ridge 5 enters.
The support roller 3 is configured such that both side portions 61 are in contact with the vicinity of both shoulder portions 52 of the wheel portion 2 and rotate with the rotation of the wheel portion 2. Further, the bottom surface 62 of the concave groove 6 is not in contact with the peripheral surface 51 of the protrusion 5.

In the caster 11, the peripheral surface 51 of the ridge 5 is in contact with the ground and the wheel portion 2 rotates, so that dust may adhere to the peripheral surface 51 or the peripheral surface 51 may be scraped. The surface of the portion 52 can be kept smooth. Further, the support roller 3 rotates with the wheel portion 2 with both side portions 61 in contact with both shoulder portions 52. At this time, the protrusion 5 enters the concave groove 6, and the wheel portion 2 and the support roller 3 rotate while the peripheral surface 51 and the bottom surface 62 are not in contact with each other.
Therefore, even if dust or the like adheres to the peripheral surface 51 or the peripheral surface 51 is scraped, the support roller 3 rotates in contact with the smooth shoulders 52 and touches the peripheral surface 51. Since it rotates without any vibration, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of vibration. Of course, it has the same effect as the caster 1 of the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 shows a modification of the caster 11 according to the second embodiment, and a ridge 6 a is formed over the entire circumference near the center in the width direction of the outer peripheral surface 33 of the support roller 3. The protrusion 6a is formed in a flat rectangular shape in cross section.
In the vicinity of the center in the width direction of the outer peripheral surface 23 of the wheel portion 2, a concave groove 5 a that fits the protrusion 6 a is formed over the entire circumference. When the heel is moved, both shoulder portions 52a of the wheel portion 2 are grounded so that the wheel portion 2 rotates.
The concave groove 5a is formed to be slightly wider than the ridge 6a, slightly shallower than the height of the ridge 6a, and formed so that the ridge 6a enters. The bottom surface 51a of the concave groove 5a is in contact with the peripheral surface 61a of the ridge 6a.
Even with such a configuration, the support roller 3 can rotate with the rotation of the wheel portion 2 with the peripheral surface 61a of the protrusion 6a contacting the bottom surface 51a of the groove 5a. Therefore, the support roller 3 does not touch both shoulder portions 52a of the wheel portion 2 to be grounded, and can prevent the occurrence of vibrations as described above.

  The configuration aspect of the above embodiment is not intended to limit the present invention, but can be changed as long as the technical purpose is common, and the present invention includes such a change.

  1, 11 casters 2 wheel portions 21 center holes 22 shaft portions 23 outer peripheral surfaces 3 support rollers 31 shaft holes 32 rotating shafts 33 outer peripheral surfaces 4 fork portions 5 ridges 51 peripheral surfaces 52 shoulder portions 6 concave grooves 61 side portions 62 bottom surfaces 5a concaves Groove 51a bottom surface 52a shoulder 6a protrusion 61a peripheral surface

Claims (5)

  When the wheel part is in contact with the grounding surface, the wheel part is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the wheel part to support the wheel part, and when the wheel part is in contact with the grounding surface. And a shaft part inserted into the central hole, which is in a non-contact state with the central hole of the wheel part.   The caster according to claim 1, wherein the support roller part is disposed obliquely above and to the left and right of the wheel part in a side view of the wheel part.   The caster according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the outer peripheral surface of the wheel portion is formed of an elastic member.   The caster according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an outer peripheral surface of the support roller portion is formed of an elastic member.   A ridge or groove is formed near the center in the width direction of the outer peripheral surface of the wheel portion, and a groove or ridge is formed near the center in the width direction of the outer peripheral surface of the support roller portion. The caster according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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