JP5624437B2 - Swivel caster - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in a swivel caster to which a radial bearing can be attached with a simple configuration.

Conventionally, a configuration using a radial bearing as a turning mechanism of a turning caster is known.
For example, in order to facilitate the separation process of radial bearings, the applicant of the present invention inserts a radial bearing that serves as a pivot shaft or axle shaft into a synthetic resin yoke or wheel in a caster disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-347408. In the caster, an opening having a size that allows the radial bearing to be taken out in the axial direction is formed in the yoke, and the edge of the opening of the yoke protrudes toward the opening to lock the radial bearing. Providing a structure that can be provided with a plurality of claw parts, and removing the radial bearing from the opening to separate the claw part, and has achieved a corresponding result, but facilitates the mounting of the radial bearing It was not enough.
The caster disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-22254 includes a swivel shaft member, a caster mounting plate, a first washer, a radial bearing, a second washer, and a swivel wheel having a yoke portion for holding the wheel. The caster mounting plate, the first washer, the radial bearing, and the second washer are coaxially arranged in order from one side where the flange portion of the pivot shaft member is formed, and between the flange portion of the pivot shaft member and the other side. The radius R of the outer diameter of the bearing contact surface on the side that comes into contact with the radial bearing in the first washer is smaller than the radius R of the inner diameter of the outer ring, and the ball is moved from the pivot shaft to the ball. Although the structure formed larger than the distance R to the center is disclosed, since there are many components, there is a problem that the parts management and the installation work are complicated.

JP 2002-347408 A JP 2007-22254 A

The present invention was devised in view of the above circumstances, and its main problem is that a latching cut line is formed on the mounting plate, and is surrounded by the latching cut line. It is an object of the present invention to provide a swivel caster that can fix an outer ring of a radial bearing to a mounting plate simply by bending the shaft.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a turning caster in which the upper part of the inner ring of the radial bearing is caulked with the head of the turning shaft and the lower part of the inner ring is fixed via a support yoke with a washer passing through the turning shaft.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides
A mounting plate having a through hole in the middle of the upper surface, a radial bearing disposed below the mounting plate and having an outer ring fixed to the mounting plate, and an inner ring of a radial bearing connected to the outer ring via a ball In a swivel caster comprising a swivel shaft for fixing a yoke and a wheel pivotally supported by the support yoke,
The mounting plate is integrally formed with an abutting surface that abuts the upper surface of the outer ring and an abutting surface having a substantially L-shaped cross section that abuts the lower surface of the outer ring and the outer peripheral wall surface.
The abutting surface having a substantially L-shaped cross section is formed of a cylindrical concave portion having the same transverse cross section with the through hole as a center and a bottom wall having an annular shape, and an abutting surface abutting surface that abuts the upper surface, Passes through a latching formation piece surrounded by a latching cut line formed by connecting the ends of a pair of first cut lines extending outward from the upper end of the inner peripheral wall surface of the cylindrical recess with a second cut line. It consists of an upper restraint piece folded back horizontally toward the axial line side of the hole .
In the invention of claim 2,
The abutting surface that abuts the upper surface is an abutting surface in which the bottom surface of the edge of the through hole having a diameter larger than that of the inner ring of the radial bearing contacts the upper surface of the outer ring, and the abutting surface having a substantially L-shaped cross section. Is a latching-formed piece surrounded by a latching cut line formed by connecting the ends of a pair of first cut lines extending outward from the outer end of the contact surface of the upper surface of the outer ring with a second cut line. A peripheral wall restraining piece portion that is bent downward and abuts against the outer peripheral wall surface of the outer ring, and a bottom restraint piece portion that is bent inward at the tip of the peripheral wall restraining piece portion and abuts against the bottom surface of the outer ring. And
In the invention of claim 3 ,
The mounting plate has a cylindrical recess that forms an abutting surface having a substantially L-shaped cross section with a bottom wall having an annular shape centering on a through-hole having a larger diameter than the inner ring of the radial bearing,
The inner peripheral wall surface of the cylindrical recess is in contact with the outer peripheral wall surface of the outer ring, and the bottom wall surface is set in contact with the lower surface of the outer ring;
The pair of first cut lines extend radially from the upper end of the abutting surface that abuts the outer peripheral wall surface of the outer ring toward the outside, centering on the axis of the cylindrical recess,
The latch forming piece is folded up substantially horizontally toward the axis and becomes an upper restraint piece that abuts the upper surface of the outer ring without any gap, and the outer ring is fixed to the mounting plate.
In the invention of claim 4 ,
The mounting plate has a through-hole that has a diameter larger than the inner ring of the radial bearing ring and a bottom surface of the rim that serves as a contact surface that contacts the top surface of the outer ring;
A pair of first cut lines extend radially from the outer end of the contact surface of the upper surface of the outer ring toward the outside about the center line of the through hole,
A peripheral wall restraint piece that is bent downward and abuts against the peripheral wall surface of the outer ring, and a bottom restraint piece that is bent inward at the tip of the peripheral wall restraint piece and abuts against the bottom surface of the outer ring without a gap The outer ring is fixed to the mounting plate.
In the invention of claim 5 ,
The swiveling shaft caulks the shaft head to restrain the upper surface of the inner ring, the shaft tip is fixed to the support yoke, and a washer is interposed between the support yoke and the lower surface of the inner ring, so that the inner ring is supported by the support yoke. It is fixed to the side.

In the swivel caster of the present invention, the outer ring of the radial bearing can be fixed to the mounting plate simply by forming a hooking cut line on the mounting plate and bending the hook forming piece surrounded by the hooking cut line. Therefore, the outer ring can be fixed without using separate parts.
Further, since the upper part of the inner ring can be fixed by using a turning shaft and the lower part can be fixed by using a washer, it can be fixed by a minimum part.
As a result, the number of parts can be reduced, and since the structure is simple, the cost can be reduced while improving the reliability.
Further, since the use of separate parts is minimal, the generation of noise during use can be suppressed as much as possible.

1 is a perspective view of a turning caster of Example 1. FIG. (A) Perspective view of the mounting plate, (b) Cross-sectional view before bending, (c) Cross-sectional view after bending. It is a side view of FIG. It is the same top view. (A) is AA sectional drawing of FIG. 4, (b) is BB sectional drawing of the same figure. It is a perspective view of the turning caster of Example 2. (A) is a perspective view of the mounting plate, (b) a sectional view before bending, (c) a sectional view after bending. FIG. 7 is a side view of FIG. 6. It is the same top view. (A) is AA sectional drawing of FIG. 9, (b) is BB sectional drawing of the figure.

The present invention is characterized in that a cut line is provided in the mounting plate, and the latch forming piece surrounded by the cut line is bent to restrain the outer ring of the radial bearing.
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a turning caster of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Swivel caster]
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the swivel caster 1 according to the first embodiment includes a mounting plate 2 having a through hole 9 </ b> A at a midway position on the upper surface, a radial bearing 3 disposed below the mounting plate 2, and a radial It comprises a pivot shaft 8 that supports the support yoke 7 with respect to the mounting plate 2 via a bearing 3 so as to be pivotable.

[Radial bearings]
The radial bearing 3 includes an inner ring 4 disposed in the center, a concentric large-diameter outer ring 6 fitted with the inner ring 4, and a steel ball 5 interposed between the inner ring 4 and the outer ring 6 so as to be able to roll. Thus, the steel ball 5 is configured so as to roll along a groove having a substantially semicircular cross section formed to face the outer peripheral surface of the inner ring 4 and the inner peripheral surface of the outer ring 6 ( (See FIG. 5).

[Mounting plate]
The mounting plate 2 has a through hole 9A having a diameter larger than that of the inner ring 4 of the radial bearing 3 in the center thereof, and is recessed in the same cross section around the through hole 9A, and the bottom wall has an annular shape. Thus, a cylindrical recess 9 that forms an abutting surface having a substantially L-shaped cross section is formed (see FIG. 2).

[Cylindrical recess]
The cylindrical recess 9 is formed in an internal space in which the radial bearing 3 can be fitted.
The inner peripheral wall surface 9 a of the cylindrical recess 9 is set so as to contact the outer peripheral wall surface of the outer ring 6, and the bottom wall surface 9 b is set to contact the lower surface of the outer ring 6.

[Cut line for hanging]
The mounting plate 2 which is the outside of the cylindrical recess 9 extends in a flange shape, and a plurality of latching cut lines L extending radially with respect to the axis of the through hole 9A are formed.

  That is, the latching cut line L is radially centered on the center line of the cylindrical recess 9 from the upper end of the inner peripheral wall surface 9a where the pair of first cut lines L1 contacts the outer peripheral wall surface of the outer ring 6. The ends of the pair of first cut lines L1 are connected by a second cut line L2 to form a substantially U-shaped cut line.

In the present embodiment, the first cut line L1 is illustrated as extending radially, however, it only needs to extend outward.
Moreover, although the 1st cut line L1 and the 2nd cut line L2 were made into the straight line, the 2nd cut line L2 may connect the 1st cut line L1 in circular arc shape.
This latching cut line L is not limited to the case of extending radially, and in the present invention, it only needs to extend outward from the cylindrical recess 9.

[Hook formation piece]
A portion surrounded by the latching cut line L becomes a latching formation piece 10 and is separated from other portions of the mounting plate 2.
Therefore, the latch forming piece 10 can be folded substantially horizontally toward the axis side, and can be brought into contact with the upper surface of the outer ring 6 without a gap to form the upper restraining piece 10A.
The outer ring 6 can be fixed to the mounting plate 2 by the inner peripheral wall surface 9a, the bottom wall surface 9b, and the upper restraining piece 10A of the cylindrical recess 9.

[Fixing the inner ring]
Next, in the present embodiment, the inner ring 4 of the radial bearing 3 is fixed by a turning shaft 8 that is inserted through the central through hole 4 a of the inner ring 4 and is fixed to the support yoke 7.
That is, the turning shaft 8 restrains the upper surface of the inner ring 4 by caulking the shaft head 8a.

Further, in the illustrated example, the tip end of the turning shaft 8 is fixed so as to be prevented from being pulled through the support yoke 7.
Therefore, an annular washer 11 that is externally fitted to the turning shaft 8 is interposed between the support yoke 7 and the lower surface of the inner ring 4, and the inner ring 4 is fixed to the support yoke 7 via the washer 11.

  As a result, the outer ring 6 of the radial bearing 3 can be fixed by processing the mounting plate, and the inner ring can be fixed by combining the washer 11 with the swivel shaft 8, and the radial bearing 3 can be mounted with a simple configuration. it can.

The swivel casters 1 shown in FIGS. 6 to 10 show different fixing structures of the radial bearing 3 using the mounting plate 2.
In this case, only the structure for fixing the outer ring 6 by the mounting plate 2 is different, and the other structure is the same as that of the first embodiment, so that the description thereof is omitted.

In this embodiment, the mounting plate 2 is not formed with a recess and remains substantially flat.
Then, a through hole 9 </ b> A is formed in the center of the mounting plate 2.
The through hole 9A has a larger diameter than the inner ring 4 of the radial bearing ring 3, and the bottom surface 9c of the rim of the through hole 9A is an abutting surface that comes into contact with the upper surface of the outer ring 6 (see FIG. 10).

A pair of first cut lines L1 extend radially from the outer end of the contact surface of the upper surface of the outer ring 6 toward the outside centering on the center line of the through hole 9A.
Then, the ends of the pair of first cut lines L1 are connected by the second cut line L2 to form a substantially U-shaped hooking cut line L as viewed from the plane.

  As in the first embodiment, the latching cut line L is not radial and may extend in any direction as long as it is outward. The cut line is not limited to a straight line and may be curved. .

And the latching formation piece 10 enclosed by the latching cut line L is bend | folded downward, the surrounding wall restraint piece part 10a which abuts on the surrounding wall surface of the outer ring | wheel 6, and inward at the front-end | tip of this surrounding wall restraint piece part 10a And a bottom restraint piece 10b that is bent to the bottom surface of the outer ring 6 without a gap.
As a result, the outer ring 6 can be fixed to the mounting plate 2 side by the bottom surface 9 c of the lip of the mounting plate 2 and the latch forming piece 10.

For the inner ring 4, the description of the first embodiment, which can be fixed to the support yoke 7 side using the pivot shaft 8 and the washer 11, is applied mutatis mutandis as in the above-described embodiment.
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various design changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rotating caster 2 Mounting plate 3 Radial bearing 4 Inner ring 4a Inner ring through hole 5 Steel ball 6 Outer ring 7 Support yoke 8 Rotating shaft 8a Shaft head 9 Cylindrical recess 9A Through hole 9a Inner peripheral wall 9b Bottom wall 9c Bottom 10 Latching piece 10A Upper restraint piece 10a Perimeter wall restraint piece 10b Bottom restraint piece 11 Washer L Latching cut line L1 First cut line L2 Second cut line

Claims (5)

A mounting plate having a through hole in the middle of the upper surface, a radial bearing disposed below the mounting plate and having an outer ring fixed to the mounting plate, and an inner ring of a radial bearing connected to the outer ring via a ball In a swivel caster comprising a swivel shaft for fixing a yoke and a wheel pivotally supported by the support yoke,
The mounting plate is integrally formed with an abutting surface that abuts the upper surface of the outer ring and an abutting surface having a substantially L-shaped cross section that abuts the lower surface of the outer ring and the outer peripheral wall surface.
The abutting surface having a substantially L-shaped cross section is formed of a cylindrical concave portion having the same transverse cross-section with the through-hole as a center and a bottom wall having an annular shape, and an abutting surface that abuts the upper surface is the cylindrical The axis of the through-hole is defined as a hook-forming piece surrounded by a hooking cut line formed by connecting the tips of a pair of first cut lines going outward from the upper end of the inner peripheral wall surface of the recess. A swivel caster comprising an upper restraint piece folded horizontally toward the side . A mounting plate having a through hole in the middle of the upper surface, a radial bearing disposed below the mounting plate and having an outer ring fixed to the mounting plate, and an inner ring of a radial bearing connected to the outer ring via a ball In a swivel caster comprising a swivel shaft for fixing a yoke and a wheel pivotally supported by the support yoke,
The mounting plate is integrally formed with an abutting surface that abuts the upper surface of the outer ring and an abutting surface having a substantially L-shaped cross section that abuts the lower surface of the outer ring and the outer peripheral wall surface.
The abutting surface that abuts the upper surface is an abutting surface in which the bottom surface of the edge of the through hole having a diameter larger than that of the inner ring of the radial bearing contacts the upper surface of the outer ring, and the abutting surface having a substantially L-shaped cross section. Is a latching-formed piece surrounded by a latching cut line formed by connecting the ends of a pair of first cut lines extending outward from the outer end of the contact surface of the upper surface of the outer ring with a second cut line. A peripheral wall restraining piece portion that is bent downward and abuts against the outer peripheral wall surface of the outer ring, and a bottom restraint piece portion that is bent inward at the tip of the peripheral wall restraining piece portion and abuts against the bottom surface of the outer ring. A swivel caster. The mounting plate has a cylindrical recess that forms an abutting surface having a substantially L-shaped cross section with the bottom wall having an annular shape centering on a through hole having a larger diameter than the inner ring of the radial bearing,
The inner peripheral wall surface of the cylindrical recess is in contact with the outer peripheral wall surface of the outer ring, and the bottom wall surface is set in contact with the lower surface of the outer ring;
A pair of first cut lines extend radially from the upper end of the inner peripheral wall surface in contact with the outer peripheral wall surface of the outer ring toward the outside about the axis of the cylindrical recess,
Claim hook formed piece is folded substantially horizontally toward the axis line side becomes upper retaining pieces without any gap abuts on the upper surface of the outer ring, characterized by comprising securing the outer ring to the mounting plate 1 Or the turning caster of 2 . The mounting plate has a through-hole that is larger in diameter than the inner ring of the radial bearing ring and has a bottom surface of the rim that is a contact surface that contacts the top surface of the outer ring,
A pair of first cut lines extend radially from the outer end of the contact surface of the upper surface of the outer ring toward the outside about the center line of the through hole,
A peripheral wall restraining piece that is bent downward and abuts against the peripheral wall surface of the outer ring, and a bottom restraint piece that is bent inward at the tip of the peripheral wall restraint piece and abuts against the bottom surface of the outer ring without a gap The turning caster according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the outer ring is fixed to the mounting plate. The swivel shaft restrains the upper surface of the inner ring by caulking the shaft head, the shaft tip is fixed to the support yoke, and a washer is interposed between the support yoke and the lower surface of the inner ring so that the inner ring is on the support yoke side. The swivel caster according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the swivel caster is fixed to the swivel caster.

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