JP3887627B2 - Industrial casters - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an industrial caster capable of switching the rotation of a wheel to a locked state and releasing the locked state as appropriate.

  Conventionally, there are various known industrial casters capable of switching the rotation of the wheel to a locked state and releasing the locked state as appropriate. Of these, for example, a braking mechanism related to the caster shown in FIG. The wheel tires are locked or the locked state is released. In this brake mechanism, when the operation arm portion 100a of the brake release pedal 100 is stepped on in the figure, the cam plate 101 simultaneously rotates in the clockwise direction in FIG. The projection 101a of the cam plate 101 is fitted in the recess of the brake driving pedal 103 by rotating counterclockwise in FIG. As a result, the surface of the first contour portion 101b of the cam plate 101 and the surface of the brake driving pedal 103 come into contact with each other, and the brake shoe 104 is kept away from the wheel (tire) 105 and kept free. Further, when the brake driving pedal 103 is depressed while the wheel 105 is in the free state, the projection 101a of the cam plate 101 is disengaged from the recess of the brake driving pedal 103, and the spring body 102 causes the brake to be braked. The release pedal 100 rotates counterclockwise with the cam plate 101 in the same figure, and the brake driving pedal 103 is displaced to a position where it comes into contact with the second contour portion 101c of the cam plate 101. Further, the brake driving pedal 103 Is depressed to a position where it comes into contact with the third contour portion 101d of the cam plate 101. In the braking mechanism according to the caster of this example, a function for enabling the strength of the brake braking force is added. (Patent Document 1).

However, although the caster of the above example has a function to enable the strength of the brake braking force, the braking mechanism provided in this type of caster pushes the brake shoe on the wheel tire in the above example. Since the configuration is such that the rotation of the wheel is locked, the tire made of rubber or plastic is likely to be damaged, and the effect of tire wear, that is, the brake pedal for obtaining the locked state There is a problem that it is easy to be affected by the difference in the amount of depression with respect to. Furthermore, there is a problem that the lock state becomes poor when oil or the like adheres to the tire surface against which the brake shoe is pressed.
JP-A-8-132814 (3rd page, FIG. 1)

  The problem to be solved is to prevent damage to the tire made of rubber or plastic, etc. when locking the rotation of the wheel. It is to make it difficult to be affected, and to realize such a braking mechanism.

Industrial caster according to claim 1 of the present invention, formed by providing e Bei the wheel tire wheel is mounted to the axle via a bearing, a locking mechanism for locking the rotation of the wheel inside the tire wheel industry In the caster, the lock mechanism includes a tapered outer peripheral surface engaged with a tapered hole provided along the axial direction of the axle of the tire wheel, and a plurality of ridges projecting radially. A lock ring having an inner peripheral surface, a spring urging the lock ring toward a side where the rotation of the wheel is locked or a side where the lock is released, and an external force applied to rotate around the axle. A substantially rectangular member, and a guide groove with which the protrusion engages with the rotation, and converts the lock ring into movement in the axial direction against the urging force of the spring. Guide groove, those having an operation unit having a substantially cylindrical member which is provided in a manner that along the circumference, the.

According to the industrial caster according to the first aspect, since the member is not pressed against the tire of the wheel, the tire made of rubber, plastic or the like is hardly damaged and is not easily affected by the wear of the tire. Thus, it is possible to realize a braking mechanism that is not easily affected by oil or the like adhering to the tire surface, and the convenience of operations for locking and unlocking the rotation of the wheel is improved.

An industrial caster according to a second aspect of the present invention is an industrial caster comprising a wheel on which a tire wheel is mounted on an axle via a bearing, and a lock mechanism that locks the rotation of the wheel is provided inside the tire wheel. In the caster, the lock mechanism is a concavo-convex tooth provided along a direction around the axis of the axle of the tire wheel, and a streak direction of the concavo-convex tooth is substantially perpendicular to an axial direction of the axle. A lock ring having an outer peripheral side surface provided with concave and convex teeth engaged with the concave and convex teeth engraved as described above, and an inner peripheral surface provided with a plurality of radial protrusions, and the lock ring, A spring that urges the rotation of the wheel to be locked or the unlocked side, a substantially rectangular member to which an external force is applied to rotate around the axle, and the protrusions engage with the rotation. You An operation means having a substantially cylindrical member provided with a guide groove, which is a guide groove that converts the lock ring into movement in the axial direction against the urging force of the spring. And. Here, examples of the uneven teeth include a square tooth, an involute tooth, and a triangular tooth.

According to the industrial caster according to the second aspect, since the member is not pressed against the tire of the wheel, the tire made of rubber, plastic, or the like is hardly damaged and is not easily affected by the wear of the tire. Thus, it is possible to realize a braking mechanism that is not easily affected by oil or the like adhering to the tire surface, and the convenience of operations for locking and unlocking the rotation of the wheel is improved.

Industrial caster according to claim 3 of the present invention, before Symbol draft groove, so that the locking grooves for the protrusions to stop when it is or locked when the lock is released is provided Thus, when the lock is released, the ridge stops in the guide groove and enables rotation of the wheel, or when locked, the ridge stops in the guide groove and disables rotation of the wheel. Is an improvement.

  Since the industrial caster of the present invention does not employ a configuration in which a member is pressed against the tire of the wheel, the tire made of rubber or plastic is not easily damaged, and is not easily affected by the wear of the tire. There is an advantage that it is difficult to be affected by oil adhering.

An industrial caster according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a configuration diagram of the industrial caster 1 when the rotation of the wheel is in a locked state. FIG. 2A is a front view of the lock ring 6, and FIG. 3A is a plan view of the cam lever 7, and FIG. 3B is a front view thereof.
In the industrial caster 1, a tire 2 is attached to a tire wheel 3 to form a wheel, and the tire wheel 3 of the wheel is attached to an axle 5 via a radial ball bearing (bearing) 4 in the present embodiment. Therefore, the lock mechanism of the industrial caster 1 employs a configuration in which the following outer peripheral surface 6a (see FIG. 2) of the lock ring 6 is engaged with the tapered hole 3c of the tire wheel 3.
As shown in FIG. 1, the tire wheel 3 of the industrial caster 1 is provided with the radial ball bearing 4 at a central portion inside thereof, and the outer ring of the radial ball bearing 4 is at one end of the outer ring. Is press-fitted into the tire wheel 3 in such a manner as to abut against the ridge wall 3 a of the tire wheel 3. In the present embodiment, the tapered hole 3c is provided in such a manner that the inclination angle from the lower end portion of the protruding wall 3a toward the one side surface 3b of the tire wheel 3 gradually decreases with the axle 5 as an axis.

Also, the axle 5, as shown in FIG. 1, a cylindrical portion 5a of the large diameter of the flange portion 5a ₁ is provided at the left side toward the figure of the center, threaded at both ends of the cylindrical portion 5a The inner ring of the radial ball bearing 4 is press-fitted into the cylindrical part 5a in such a manner that _one end of the inner ring abuts against the flange part 5a1. As a result, the tire wheel 3 is mounted on the axle 5 via the radial ball bearing 4.
Incidentally, the one end of the cylindrical portion 5a, in the axial direction of the cylindrical portion 5a, in this embodiment is provided with slit grooves 5a ₂ forms a circumferentially trisected, as described below lock ring 6, the protrusion 6b is disposed to be movable along the slit grooves 5a _2.

Next, the lock ring 6 that engages with the tapered hole 3c of the tire wheel 3 and the cam lever (operation means) 7 in which the protrusion 6b of the lock ring 6 engages via the ring 10 in the present embodiment will be described. To do. As shown in FIG. 2, the lock ring 6 is a relatively thin hollow substantially cylindrical sleeve member, and the outer peripheral surface 6 a of the sleeve member is tapered so as to engage with the tapered hole 3 c. In the present embodiment, the sleeve member is provided so that the ridges 6b project radially from the inner peripheral surface 6c of the lock ring 6 in three equal parts on the circumference (see FIG. 2B). ) When the lock ring 6 is assembled to the industrial caster 1, the protruding ridge 6b is loosely fitted into the slit groove 5a ₂ of the axle 5 (see FIG. 1). Thus, the locking ring 6, ridges 6b as described above is movable along the axial direction of the axle 5 while being guided by the slit groove 5a _2.

  By the way, in the lock ring 6 according to the present embodiment, a recess 6d is provided on the side surface of the lock ring 6 facing the radial ball bearing 4, and the spring 8 uses this recess 6d as one spring seat. The one side surface of the radial ball bearing 4 is interposed between the lock ring 6 and the radial ball bearing 4 with the other spring seat (see FIG. 1). The spring 8 is disposed so as to urge the lock ring 6 in the direction of the arrow A in the axial direction in FIG. 1. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the spring 8 The tire wheel 3 and the lock ring 6 are urged toward the side where the rotation of the wheel is locked, that is, the side where the relative movement between the two is prevented.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the cam lever 7 is a member having a shape like a ladle, and is a hollow substantially cylindrical member 71 and an elongated substantially rectangular shape protruding from the member 71 in an offset form with respect to the member 71. And a member 72. Of these, the cylindrical member 71 has a shape in which a ring-shaped annular plate 71b is erected on a thin substrate 71a, and the annular plate 71b is arranged on the opposite side of the substrate 71a in a manner along the circumference. Cam grooves (guide grooves) 71b _{1 with} which the protrusions 6b are engaged are respectively provided as shown in FIG. However, projections 6b is prevented without fit directly engaged with the cam groove 71b ₁ as described above, and so as to engage the cam groove 71b ₁ through the ring 10, thereby the piece wear ridge 6b is doing. As shown in the figure, the cam groove 71b ₁ is composed of a concave small circular arc portion 71b ₁₁ , a concave large circular arc portion 71b _12, and an inclined linear portion 71b ₁₃ connecting the two, and the small circular arc portion 71b ₁₁ and the inclined linear line The connecting portion with the portion 71b ₁₃ is formed so as to form a convex shape, whereby the small arc portion 71b ₁₁ functions as a locking groove for stopping the protrusion 6b. In the present embodiment, It functions as the locking groove when the locked state is released and the wheel can be rotated.

Such cam lever 7, when assembled in the relaxed inserted in the industrial casters 1 at the inner circumferential surface 6c of the lock ring 6 an outer peripheral surface 71b ₂ of the wheel plate 71b, in addition to the rectangular member 72 of the cam lever 7 It can be rotated around the axle 5 by the external force applied. Protrusions 6b along with such rotation is relatively moved along the cam groove 71b _1, the protrusions 6b becomes possible to receive a force from the cam grooves 71b ₁ along with the mobile, thereby, the lock ring 6, The spring 8 can move in the direction opposite to the arrow A direction against the urging force of the spring 8.
Incidentally, the cam lever 7 is prevented from coming off from the axle 5 by a washer 11 attached to one end of the cylindrical portion 5 a of the axle 5 as shown in FIG. 1, and a disc spring 12 is provided between the cam lever 7 and the washer 11. The operability is improved by providing a gap between them. Here, the washer 11 is fixed by a nut (not shown) screwed into the cylindrical portion 5b of the axle 5.
Reference numeral 13 denotes a dust-proof shield cover for the radial ball bearing 4.

Next, the operation of the braking mechanism in the industrial caster 1 and the cancellation of the operation will be described.
FIG. 1 shows a case where the braking mechanism operates as described above and the rotation of the wheel is in a locked state. When the wheel is in such a locked state, the lock ring 6 is driven by the urging force of the spring 8. The tire wheel 3 and the lock ring 6 are taper-engaged to prevent relative movement therebetween, and at the same time, the tire wheel 3 and the axle 5 are pressed via the lock ring 6. The relative movement between the two is blocked and the rotation of the wheel is locked. At this time, projections 6b are staying at the position of the large arc portion _{71b 12} of the cam groove 71b _1.
However, in order to release the locked state and allow the wheel to rotate, the cam lever 7 may be rotated in an appropriate direction while applying an external force against the urging force of the spring 8 to the rectangular member 72 of the cam lever 7. .

That is, when we rotate the cam lever 7 in the appropriate direction while applying the external force to the rectangular member 72 of the cam lever 7, the mobile projection 6b along the cam groove 71b ₁ of the cam lever 7 with rotation of the cam lever 7 relative At the same time, the lock ring 6 moves in the direction opposite to the arrow A direction in FIG. 1 by the force against the urging force of the spring 8 transmitted from the cam lever 7 through the protrusion 6b. It is sufficient to release the external force applied to the cam lever 7 by rotating it to a place where it cannot be rotated any more. At this time, projection 6b is, since a state of engaging the engaging groove of the small arc portions 71b ₁₁ of the cam grooves 71b _1, also to release the external force that has been added to the cam lever 7, the lock ring 6 is spring 8 1 is moved in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 and the rotation of the wheel is not locked.
Then, in order to re-lock state rotation of wheels only needs to release the locked state of the projection 6b that is engaged by applying an external force to the cam lever 7 in the small arc portion 71b _11, the lock ring 6 Is pressed in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 by the urging force of the spring 8, and the rotation of the wheel is locked as described above.

  By the way, in the present embodiment, the case where the spring 8 is used while being biased to the side where the rotation of the wheel is locked with respect to the lock ring 6 has been described. However, the lock is released with respect to the lock ring 6. You may make it use urging | biasing to the side made. However, in this case, in the present embodiment, the tapered hole 3c of the tire wheel 3 (and the outer peripheral surface 6a of the lock ring 6) is formed so that the inclination angle from the lower end portion of the ridge wall 3a toward the one side surface 3b gradually decreases. Of course, it is necessary to change the inclination angle to a tapered hole or the like that gradually increases.

Next, an industrial caster according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. However, FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of the industrial caster 20 when the rotation of the wheel is in a locked state. In FIG. 4, the same members as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.
The industrial caster 20 is different from the industrial caster 1 except that the outer peripheral surface 6a of the lock ring 6 is engaged with the tapered hole 3c of the tire wheel 3 and the concave and convex teeth 21a of the tire wheel 21 and the lock ring. It is the point which made it the structure engaged with 22 uneven | corrugated teeth 22a.

  That is, for the tire wheel 21, the concave and convex teeth 21 a are provided along the inner circumferential direction (around the axle axis) of the one end, while the outer peripheral side surface (around the axle axis) of the lock ring 22 is provided. The concave and convex teeth 22a that engage with the concave and convex teeth 21a of the tire wheel 21 are provided. However, in the present embodiment, the concave / convex teeth 21a of the tire wheel 21 and the concave / convex teeth 22a of the lock ring 22 are respectively engraved such that the tooth trace directions are substantially perpendicular to the axial direction of the axle. The uneven teeth 21a of the tire wheel 21 do not need to be provided over the entire circumference, and may be provided, for example, at three locations on the circumference.

In the industrial caster 20, when the rotation of the wheel is in the locked state, the lock ring 22 is pressed in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 4 by the urging force of the spring 8, whereby the tire wheel 21 and the lock ring 22 are moved. The relative movement between the tire wheel 21 and the axle 5 is prevented via the lock ring 22 at the same time as the concave and convex engagement is performed to prevent the relative movement between the two.
However, in order to release the locked state and allow the wheel to rotate, the cam lever 7 is moved in an appropriate direction while applying an external force against the urging force of the spring 8 to the rectangular member 72 of the cam lever 7 in the same manner as described above. If it rotates, the lock ring 6 moves in the direction opposite to the arrow A direction in FIG. 1 by the force against the urging force of the spring 8 (therefore, the unevenness between the tire wheel 21 and the lock ring 22). Of course, it is only necessary to release the external force applied to the cam lever 7 by rotating the cam lever 7 until it can no longer rotate.

  Incidentally, in the first and second embodiments described above, the bearing 4 and the lock ring 6 or the bearing 4 and the lock ring 22 are separate, but the outer ring of the bearing 4 and the lock ring 6 or the lock ring are separate. 22 may be configured integrally, and a caster having a small size and a lock ring having a resin molding is preferable because the cost is reduced.

  The braking mechanism of the present invention employs a configuration in which a conventional braking mechanism for an industrial caster is attached to a wheel tire. In addition to the advantages described above, the industrial caster itself has the advantage of being compact because it has a structure that does not protrude from the wheel and is not bulky. .

It is a block diagram of the industrial caster which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the lock ring of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the cam lever of FIG. 1. It is a block diagram of the industrial caster which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of the conventional industrial caster.

Explanation of symbols

1,20 Industrial casters 2 Tires (wheels)
3,21 Tire wheel
3c Taper hole 4 Bearing 5 Axle 6,22 Lock ring 6b Projection 7 Cam lever (operating means)
8 Spring 21a, 22a Uneven tooth 71b ₁ Guide groove (cam groove)
71b ₁₁ small arc (locking groove)

Claims (3)

E Bei wheels tire wheel is mounted to the axle via a bearing, in casters for industrial ing provided a locking mechanism for locking the rotation of the wheel inside the tire wheel,
The lock mechanism includes an outer peripheral surface of the tire wheel that is tapered so as to engage with a taper hole provided along an axial direction of the axle, and an inner periphery on which a plurality of ridges project radially. A lock ring having a surface;
A spring that biases the lock ring toward the side where the rotation of the wheel is locked or the side where the lock is released;
A substantially rectangular member to which an external force is applied to rotate around the axle, and a guide groove with which the protrusion engages with the rotation, the axial direction of the lock ring resisting the biasing force of the spring An operation means having a substantially cylindrical member provided with a guide groove that converts the movement into a movement along the circumference;
Industrial casters that characterized in that it comprises a. In an industrial caster comprising a wheel mounted on an axle through a bearing, and a lock mechanism for locking the rotation of the wheel provided inside the tire wheel,
The locking mechanism is an uneven tooth provided along a direction around the axis of the axle of the tire wheel, and the engraving direction of the uneven tooth is substantially perpendicular to the axial direction of the axle. A lock ring having an outer peripheral side surface provided with concave and convex teeth that engage with the provided concave and convex teeth, and an inner peripheral surface on which a plurality of protrusions project radially.
A spring that biases the lock ring toward the side where the rotation of the wheel is locked or the side where the lock is released;
A substantially rectangular member to which an external force is applied to rotate around the axle, and a guide groove with which the protrusion engages with the rotation, the axial direction of the lock ring resisting the biasing force of the spring An operation means having a substantially cylindrical member provided with a guide groove that converts the movement into a movement along the circumference;
Casters for industrial characterized in that it comprises a. The industrial groove according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the guide groove is provided with a locking groove for stopping the protrusion when the lock is released or locked . caster.

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