JP7259195B1 - Locking mechanism for equipment with swivel casters - Google Patents

Abstract

A shopping cart (hereinafter referred to as a cart) equipped with swivel casters does not move on its own despite the inclination of the road surface, and a mobile conference table does not move even if an external force is applied after placement. SOLUTION: A swivel caster including a wheel body consisting of a rotation restricting member integrated between two wheels, a selection means for selecting traveling and locking, and a flexible transmission that transmits a selection result to a lock pin described below. Means, a lock pin which is arranged at the swivel center of the swivel caster and connected to the transmission means to move up and down. The rotation restricting member has an outer shape that does not interfere with the lock pin within a specific rotation angle range but interferes with it within other angle ranges. When locking is selected, if the rotation restricting member is within a specific rotation angle range, the lock pin is lowered and locked. is not pressed in a restrictive manner, and a slight movement of the cart after that rotates the wheel body and lowers the lock pin. [Selection drawing] Fig. 5

Description

The present invention relates to a mechanism for keeping or locking an appliance with swivel casters in place after being stopped.

Equipment with swivel casters should remain in place after being stopped. For example, when a shopper uses a cart with swivel casters in a supermarket, the cart is driven while shopping and to the car in the parking lot, and stopped when the car is reached.
By the way, a slope called a water slope is provided in the parking lot for drainage. Due to this inclination, when the cart is released after being stopped, it may start to move without staying in place. Various devices with swivel casters, such as strollers, strollers, trolleys, luggage, etc., have similar problems on inclines.
In addition, it is desirable that equipment used on a horizontal floor, such as conference desks, cabinets, and hospital beds, equipped with swivel casters, remain in place even if an external force acts on them after they are moved to the place where they are placed.

In the case of equipment with fixed casters, since the position and direction of the wheels with respect to the equipment are constant, for example, it is possible to provide a mechanism to lock the equipment by transmitting the movement of the lever operation with a link and pressing the outer periphery of the wheels. However, in the case of a swivel caster, the above mechanism cannot be applied because the position and direction of the wheel relative to the equipment are indeterminate due to the swivel nature of the caster.

For this reason, there are some devices that have a mechanism that locks the device by attaching a lever to the swivel caster and stopping the rotation of the wheel by operating the lever. And the direction is indeterminate and the lever is searched. In addition, the lever may get stuck under the main body of the device, making it difficult to operate. Also, it is difficult to see whether the lever is set to the lock side or not. It is the present condition that it is difficult to use from such a subject.

In order to solve these problems, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for stopping the rotation of the wheel by integrating a stop body provided with a stop groove on its outer periphery with the wheel, and engaging a pawl provided on the elevator with the stop groove. there is
Patent Literature 2 discloses a technique in which a brake operating member is moved up and down to press a brake shoe against the outer periphery of a wheel by a spring force to stop the rotation of the wheel.

JP 2021-187423 Real open 7-8149

The operation of the conventional mechanism will be described below.
The technique described in Patent Literature 1 requires an elevator that is composed of claws, guide grooves, and shaft holes. In addition, a structure is required to fix the elevator so that it can rotate on the vertical shaft. Furthermore, the stop grooves provided in the stop body are provided in a number of recessed shapes that match the pawl body, resulting in a high processing cost. Similar techniques are also found in many other documents such as JP-A-2010-201972 and JP-A-2016-2946, all of which have complicated structures.

Although the technology described in Patent Document 2 has a simpler structure than the technology described in Patent Document 1, it still requires a brake shoe, and the brake shoe and spring are attached to the frame (corresponding to a fork in the present invention). The structure is complicated because it needs to be installed.

In addition, the technology described in Patent Document 2 stops the rotation of the wheel by friction against the outer circumference of the wheel, so the effect is unstable due to dirt and wear on the outer circumference of the wheel and brake shoes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to lock a device with swivel casters with a very simple structure compared to the prior art.

The configuration according to the present invention includes at least selection means for the user to select between traveling and locking of the equipment, transmission means for transmitting the selection result to the lock pin, and each swivel caster which is arranged coaxially with its turning center and moves up and down by the operation of the transmission means. A wheel body composed of a movable lock pin, two wheels in contact with the road surface, and a rotation restricting member integrated between the two wheels, and the outer shape of the rotation restricting member is specified by the rotation restricting member When it is within the rotation angle range of , it does not interfere with the lock pin which is about to move downward, and when it is outside the specific angle range, it has a shape that interferes with it.

Further, when the user selects traveling, the selection means and the transmission means raise the lock pin to a height that does not intersect with the rotation restricting member, and when locking is selected, the lock pin is raised to a position where it interferes with the rotation restricting member. allow movement.

Furthermore, when locking is selected, the transmission means allows movement under the lock pin, but the rotation restricting member does not constrain even if the lock pin interferes with the rotation restricting member outside the range of the specific rotation angle. do not press

According to the present invention, it is possible to lock a device having swivel casters with a very simple structure.

In addition, the lock pin moves up and down by selecting travel or lock, and the device can travel when travel is selected, and can be locked when lock is selected.

Furthermore, when the lock is selected and the rotation restricting member is out of the specific rotation angle range, the lock pin interferes with the rotation restricting member, but the lock pin does not constrain the rotation restricting member, so the wheel body rotates. A slight movement of the device causes the wheel body to rotate within a specific rotation angle range and is locked.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an entire load-carrying trolley (hereinafter referred to as trolley 1) as an example of a device equipped with swivel casters according to a first embodiment of the present invention, as viewed obliquely from behind; FIG. 1B is an enlarged perspective view of the FIG. 1A portion, in a state where the lock pin 9 is lifted. 3 is a perspective view of a wheel body 35; FIG. FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view of the state in which the lock pin 9 is lifted as in FIG. 2; Sectional drawing which shows the state in which the lock pin 9 descended to the lowest part. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a corner of a rotation restricting member 352 hits a lock pin 9 and the truck 1 is locked; FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the lowered lock pin 9 interferes with the rotation restricting member 352 when each side of the rotation restricting member 352 is inclined by 45 degrees; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where an angle formed by sides of a lock pin 9 and a rotation restricting member 352 is small; The perspective view showing the operation part 6, the connection part 7, and the strut 5 shows two types of states of the operation part 6. FIG. Sectional drawing of Fig.9 (a). The perspective view and sectional drawing which show the transmission part which concerns on 2nd embodiment of this invention. 4A and 4B are cross-sectional views showing examples of various outer shapes of the rotation restricting member 352. FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an operation lever 63 in which left and right operation portions can be operated independently;

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
A trolley will be described as an example of a device equipped with swivel casters.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the carriage 1 as a whole, viewed obliquely from the rear and below. The trolley 1 has a main body 2, two swivel casters 3 attached to the rear end of the main body 2, two swivel front wheel casters 4 attached to the front end, left and right struts 5, and a substantially U-shaped operation part. 6. It consists of left and right connecting parts 7 that connect the support 5 and the operating part 6 . A user (not shown) is located behind the truck 1, on the right side of the truck 1 in FIG.
In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to the swivel caster 3 attached to the rear end. The structure of the carriage 1 is bilaterally symmetrical from the user's point of view, and the following description will be given for one side, but the same operation is performed for the other side.

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. FIG.
The swivel caster 3 comprises a mount 31 , bearings 32 , forks 33 , swivel shafts 34 , wheel bodies 35 and axles 36 . A wheel body 35 is in contact with the road surface 8 . The swivel caster 3 as a whole is fixed to the body portion 2 by a mounting base 31 . There are various specific fixing methods other than screws, but since a general method is sufficient, the description will be omitted. The fixation of other parts such as the strut 5 is also omitted. Wheel assembly 35 is rotatably mounted on fork 33 by axle 36 . Axle 36 is eccentric with respect to pivot axis 34 . The fork 33 is rotatably attached to the mount 31 with a pivot 34 via a bearing 32 .

Up to this point, the basic structure of the swivel caster has been described. There are other swivel casters with various structures, but the point is that the wheel body in contact with the road surface is rotatably attached to a fork, the fork is rotatably attached to a mounting base, and the mounting base is fixed to the main body. However, as long as the center of rotation of the wheel body and the center of rotation of the fork are eccentric, any structure and type of swivel caster may be used.

Characteristic portions of the present invention will now be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, the wheel body 35 of the present invention comprises two wheels 351 and a rotation restricting member 352 sandwiched between the wheels 351, and the two wheels 351 and the rotation restricting member 352 are integrated. In this embodiment, the outer shape of the rotation restricting member 352 is generally square.

The lock pin 9 is generally a round bar with a diameter smaller than the thickness of the rotation restricting member 352 . A hole larger than the lock pin 9 is provided in the center of the swivel shaft 34 . The lock pin 9 is arranged at the center of the swivel shaft 34 , that is, at the swivel center of the swivel caster 3 . Furthermore, the lock pin 9 passes through two guide holes 101 provided in the guide member 10 and is regulated so as to be movable only in the vertical direction. The upper part is connected to the lifting wire 11 . The lock pin 9 is positioned between the two wheels 351 in plan view.

A push-down spring 12 presses the lock pin 9 downward by contacting a spring receiver 13 attached to the lock pin 9 at its lower end and a guide member 10 at its upper end. However, since the role of the push-down spring 12 is to assist the downward movement of the lock pin 9, it can be omitted if the lock pin 9 is reliably lowered by its own weight.

The spring receiver 13 can be realized by inserting an E-ring-shaped component or a component formed by molding a soft plastic plate into a washer shape into a groove provided in the lock pin 9 .

9 and 10, the relationship and operation of the operating portion 6, the connecting portion 7, the lifting wire 11 and the lock pin 9 will be described.
9(a) and 9(b) are perspective views showing two types of states of the operating portion 6, and FIG. 10 is a sectional view of FIG. 9(a). FIG. 9(a) corresponds to running, and FIG. 9(b) corresponds to locking. The connecting plate 75 is fixed to the strut 5 . The connecting plate 75 is provided with an arc-shaped connecting plate guide hole 73 for guiding the swing center pin 71 and the guide pin 72 . The guide pin 72 passes through the connecting plate guide hole 73 and the elongated hole 61 provided in the operating portion 6 and moves through the two holes. A tension spring 74 is provided between the swing center pin 71 and the guide pin 72 . Since the guide pin 72 is pulled by the tension spring 74 , it is in contact with the inner arc of the connecting plate guide hole 73 .

S is an arc centered on the swing center pin 71 and inscribed in the arcs at both ends of the connecting plate guide hole 73 . The curvature of the inner arc of the connecting plate guide hole 73 is greater than the curvature of S as shown.
9(a) to 9(b), the deformation of the tension spring 74 gradually increases and the frictional resistance due to the tensile force also increases. It tries to go back to the original until it reaches the halfway point, and then it tries to proceed to FIG. 9B by itself. This results in bistable operation.

The hoisting wire 11 is made of a flexible material such as a rope, soft wire or fishing line that transmits tensile force but not compressive force. Its upper end is fixed near the tip of the operating portion 6 as shown in FIG. The fixing method may be adhesion, screwing, or other general methods.

In FIG. 9(a), the lifting wire 11 is at a higher position than in FIG. 9(b). A lower end of the lifting wire 11 is connected to an upper portion of the lock pin 9 . Therefore, in the state of FIG. 9(a), the height of the lock pin 9 is positioned by the operation part 6, and in the state of FIG. 9(b), the lock pin 9 can move downward compared to the state of FIG. 9(a). becomes.

FIG. 4 corresponds to the state in which the operation unit 6 is shown in FIG. 9(a). At this time, the length of the hoisting wire 11 is adjusted so that the lowermost part of the lock pin 9 does not enter the circle whose radius is the distance from the center of the axle 36 to the top of the rotation restricting member 352, that is, does not cross the circle. back.
As described above, in the state shown in FIG. 4, the wheel body 35 can rotate without hindrance, and the truck 1 can travel. That is, in the state shown in FIG. 9(a), the operation unit 6 operates in the same manner as a truck without a lock mechanism.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the user selects lock when each side of the square of the rotation restricting member 352 is horizontal and vertical.
The lifting wire 11 is lowered, and the lock pin 9 is lowered by its own weight and the force of the push-down spring 12 until the spring bearing 13 comes into contact with the guide member 10 . At this time, the lifting wire 11 may be slackened.

As described above, if the lifting wire 11 is allowed to slack, the height of the lock pin 9 does not depend on the amount of operation of the operation portion 6, and the displacement caused by the vertical movement of the operation portion 6 is greater than the displacement of the lock pin 9. can be increased, and design restrictions on the vertical movement of the operation unit 6 can be reduced.
However, it is also possible to directly position the lock pin 9 vertically by the displacement caused by the vertical movement of the operating portion 6 without the spring bearing 13 contacting the guide member 10 .

As shown in FIG. 5, a is the distance between one side of the rotation restricting member 352 and the center of the axle 36, D is the diameter of the lock pin 9, and D is the distance between the center of the turning shaft 34, that is, the turning center and the center of the axle 36. By setting the amount of eccentricity to E and setting the relationship between a, D, and E to E>a+D/2, the rotation restricting member 352 and the lock pin 9 can be lowered without interfering with each other as shown in FIG.

When the wheel assembly 35 attempts to rotate leftward from the state shown in FIG. 5, the upper left corner of the rotation restricting member 352 hits the lock pin 9 and the rotation is prevented as shown in FIG. In the case of right rotation, the lower left corner of the rotation restricting member 352 hits the lock pin 9 and rotation is prevented. That is, the truck 1 is locked.

As described above, the range of the specific rotation angle shown in claim 1 is the angle at which the wheel body 35 can rotate left and right until the upper and lower corners of the rotation restricting member 352 contact with the lock pin 9 lowered.

In other words, when the rotation restricting member 352 is within a specific rotation angle range, the lock pin 9 which is about to move downward does not interfere with the rotation restricting member 352 , and the spring bearing 13 of the lock pin 9 contacts the guide member 10 . It is possible to go down to the lowest contact height.

By the way, the rotation angle of the rotation restricting member 352 when the lock pin 9 is lowered by the lock selection operation by the user can be any angle. The probability that the rotation restricting member 352 is within a specific rotation angle range when the user selects lock as in the above example is practically small.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which the lock pin 9 lifting wire 11 is lowered when each side of the rotation restricting member 352 is inclined 45 degrees from the horizontal and vertical. It stays at the middle height.
At this time, since the hoisting wire 11 is made of a flexible material, it slackens in the middle, and the lock pin 9 does not push the outer shape of the rotation restricting member 352 by its own weight and the force greater than that of the push-down spring 12 .

From this stage, when the truck 1 moves forward (to the left), the wheel body 35 rotates in the direction of arrow F. When the wheel body 35 rotates about 45 degrees, the rotation restricting member 352 is within a specific rotation angle range, so that the lock pin 9 and the rotation restricting member 352 do not interfere with each other, and the lock pin 9 descends to the state shown in FIGS. .
That is, when the truck 1 moves forward by a distance that the wheel assembly 35 rotates by 45 degrees, the rotation of the wheel assembly 35 is prevented and the truck 1 is locked. Since this moving distance is small, it poses no practical problem.

A case where the carriage 1 moves backward and the wheel body 35 rotates in the direction of the arrow R is also considered. When the rotation starts, the lower end of the lock pin 9 is lifted upward by the side of the rotation restricting member 352 and slides on the surface of the side of the rotation restricting member 352 . When the wheel body 35 rotates about 45 degrees, the rotation restricting member 352 is within a specific rotation angle range, so that the lock pin 9 is lowered and the state shown in FIGS.

Since the material of the hoisting wire 11 is flexible, the magnitude of the force required to lift the lock pin 9 is small due to the weight of the lock pin 9 and the spring force of the push-down spring 12, which substantially prevents the wheel body 35 from rotating. Do not interfere.

From the above, the truck 1 is locked when the truck 1 moves by about 45 degrees both forward and rearward rotation of the wheel body 35 .

By the way, as shown in FIG. 8, when the angle formed by the side of the rotation restricting member 352 and the lock pin 9 when the lock pin 9 is about to move down becomes smaller than a certain amount, the side of the rotation restricting member 352 will not move even if the lock pin 9 tries to rotate in the R direction. The force component for lifting the lock pin 9 upward is small, and the force component in the horizontal direction becomes large, making it impossible to lift the lock pin 9. In this case as well, the wheel assembly 35 is prevented from rotating, and the truck 1 is also locked.
In this case, if the rear carriage 1 moves even a little in the F direction, the lock pin 9 will be lowered to the bottom. In other words, substantially, the state shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is settled by minute movements of the carriage 1 over a short period of time.

So far, the lifting wire 11 has been described as an example of transmission means, and a flexible material that transmits a tensile force but does not transmit a compressive force has been described.

FIG. 11 shows a transmission means using a suspension rod 111 and a transmission plate 112 made of a rigid material as a second embodiment.
11(a) and 11(b) show that the operating portion 6 is horizontal and correspond to FIG. 4 of the first embodiment. The lifting rod 111 has an upper portion rotatably supported by an operating portion pin 62 provided in the operating portion 6 and a lower portion rotatably supporting the transmission plate 112 with a lifting rod pin 113 .

A transmission plate elongated hole 1121 is provided in the transmission plate 112 , and the lock pin 9 is suspended from the lower end of the transmission plate elongated hole 1121 via a slide pin 114 provided on the lock pin 9 .
The length of the lifting rod 111, the transmission plate 112 and the lock pin 9, the position of the lower end of the transmission plate oblong hole 1121, the mounting positions of the lifting rod pin 113 and the slide pin 114, etc. is selected in advance so that the lower end of is not to interfere with the rotation restricting member 352 .

11(c) and (d) correspond to FIG. 5 of the first embodiment. The operation portion pin 62 is lowered, and the lifting rod 111, the transmission plate 112 and the lock pin 9 are also lowered accordingly. 11(c) and 11(d), the lock pin 9 is positioned by the contact of the spring bearing 13 with the guide member 10, and a clearance 1122 is formed between the lower end of the transmission plate elongated hole 1121 and the slide pin 114. The length of the transmission plate oblong hole 1121 is selected in advance so that it is empty. The reason for providing this gap 1122 is the same reason as providing the slack when the wire 11 is used as the transmission means. However, it is also possible to directly determine the height of the lock pin 9 by bringing the slide pin 114 into contact with the lower end of the transmission plate elongated hole 1121 without providing the gap 1122 .

FIGS. 11(e) and 11(f) correspond to FIG. 6 of the first embodiment. At this time, the operating portion pin 62 is lowered, and the lifting rod 111 is also lowered accordingly. However, since the lower end of the lock pin 9 interferes with the rotation restricting member 352 , the slide pin 114 is positioned in the middle of the transmission plate oblong hole 1121 . As a result, even if the operating portion 6 is in the locked position, the lock pin 9 is not pushed, and the lock pin 9 does not restrain the rotation restricting member 352 . Subsequent operations are the same as in the first embodiment.

In summary, as in the first embodiment, the lock pin 9 is lifted when the operating portion 6 is in the state shown in FIG. No binding force is applied to the rotation restricting member 352 .

So far, the transmission plate 112 has been pivotally supported by the lifting rod pin 113 of the lifting rod 111, but it is also possible to be pivotally supported on the lock pin 9 side. Further, it is also possible to adopt a structure in which the transmission plate 112 is pivotally supported by the operation portion pin 62, the lock pin 9 and the lifting rod 111 described so far are integrated to form a new lock pin, and the slide pin 114 is provided on this lock pin. .

In the trolley 1 of the previous embodiments, the user pushes the horizontal operation part 6 forward to enable the trolley 1 to travel. To lock, intentionally lift the operation part 6 from below. Bistable operation allows the user to choose between running and locking without hesitation.

The operation unit is not limited to the above-described operations and mechanisms. For example, the operating part is normally lifted by spring force and locked, and when running, the operating part is pushed from above to make it horizontal and travel, and the operating part is normally pulled down horizontally by spring force to counteract the spring force. It is locked while it is lifted, and when it is released, it returns by spring force and can run. It is possible to combine various mechanisms that have been put into practical use, such as a mechanism that makes it possible to run again.
So far, one of the two types of postures of the operation unit has been described as being horizontal.

In the case of equipment such as hospital beds, cabinets, conference desks, etc., which are used on a horizontal floor, the operation unit is not necessarily limited to the type that switches between traveling and locking using rocking as explained above. It is also conceivable to perform the switching operation by moving the in the vertical direction.
In this case, the same operation as described above can be realized by replacing the operation portion with the operation portion that moves the tip of the operation portion up and down by swinging as described above, and directly attaching the suspension wire or the suspension rod to the vertical mechanism.

When switching by moving the operation part up and down, a double-pipe structure is used. When the pipe is lowered, the suspension wire or suspension rod is lowered, and by raising and twisting the inner pipe, the protrusion is brought into contact with the horizontal part of the guide groove, and the suspension wire or suspension rod is raised. Various methods are possible, such as a method of making the groove spiral, and a method of moving a wedge-shaped part into and out of a vertically long hole from the side.

Up to this point, the outer shape of the rotation restricting member 352 has been described as a square. There are various other contour shapes that have interfering shapes when outside the range of angles of .

12 shows another example of the shape of the rotation restricting member 352. As shown in FIG.
(a) is a circular part cut out with one straight line, (b) is cut out with two straight lines, (c) is cut out with three straight lines, (d) is an ellipse , (e) is a circle with its center eccentric from the axle 36, (f) is a square with a notch on a part of the side, and (g) is a square with a part of the notch (f ), (h) has only the tip portion of (g) left, and (i) has a circular tip portion of (h).
Also, since the figures are the same, the figure is omitted, but if the circle shown in (i) is replaced with a ball bearing, the frictional force is reduced, the operation is smooth, and the wear is reduced. The notches in the sides of the square of the rotation restricting member 352 shown in (f) and (g) bring the angle of contact between the lock pin 9 and the rotation restricting member 352 closer to 90 degrees, thereby reducing the lateral force applied to the lock pin 9. This is to make it smaller.
Furthermore, various shapes and structures such as a combination of these exemplified shapes are conceivable.

Although the shape of the tip of the lock pin 9 has been described as being hemispherical, it may be flat. Also, although the outer shape of the lock pin 9 has been described as a uniform round bar except for the mounting portion of the spring bearing 13, it is not particularly necessary to limit the upper portion to a round bar.

Although the operation unit 6 has been described as being U-shaped as shown in FIG. 1, it is also possible to have a structure such as an operation lever 63 that allows the left and right to be operated independently, except for the portion that connects the left and right as shown in FIG. be. According to this, it becomes easy to independently prevent the rotation of the wheel bodies 35 of the left and right swivel casters 3 and direct the truck 1 in a desired direction.

In summary, the device according to the present invention has a very simple structure and can select between running and locking. Furthermore, since the locking action is performed on parts that do not come into contact with the road surface, there is no risk of unstable operation due to dirt or wear, and stable, maintenance-free operation can be achieved over a long period of time.
According to the device of the present invention, since it does not run by itself even on a slope, facilities having a parking lot can make the water gradient of the parking lot larger than before. In parking lots, the ground may subside unevenly over time, causing puddles and requiring maintenance. If the water gradient is large, puddles are less likely to occur, and maintenance intervals can be lengthened. This brings benefits to the facility not only in terms of maintenance costs, but also in terms of business restrictions such as suspension of operations. Since the structure of the equipment according to the present invention is extremely simple and the cost is only slightly increased, it is possible to provide merits to the facilities as well as to the users.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be implemented with various modifications within the scope of the claims.

1 Cart 2 Main body 3 Swivel caster 31 Mounting base 32 Bearing 33 Fork 34 Turning shaft 35 Wheel body 351 Wheel 352 Rotation restricting member 36 Axle 4 Front wheel swivel caster 5 Support 6 Operation part 61 Long hole 62 Operation part pin 63 Operation lever 7 Connection Part 71 Swing center pin 72 Guide pin 73 Connecting plate guide hole 74 Tension spring 75 Connecting plate 8 Road surface 9 Lock pin 10 Guide member 101 Guide hole 11 Lifting wire 111 Lifting rod 112 Transmission plate 1121 Transmission plate oblong hole 1122 Gap 113 Lifting rod pin 114 slide pin 12 push-down spring 13 spring receiver

Claims (3)

comprising at least a body portion, one swivel caster pivotally attached to said body portion;
The swivel caster comprises at least a wheel body in contact with the road surface, an axle of the wheel body, and a fork provided with a swivel shaft for changing the traveling direction, the axle and the swivel shaft being eccentric,
moreover,
an option for the user to choose to run or lock the device;
transmission means for transmitting the result of selection by the selection means to the following lock pin;
and a lock pin arranged at the center of the pivot shaft and movable up and down by the operation of the transmission means;
is provided,
The wheel assembly comprises at least two wheels in contact with the road surface and a rotation restricting member sandwiched and integrated between the two wheels,
The outer shape of the rotation restricting member is such that when the rotation restricting member is within a specific rotation angle range, it does not interfere with the lock pin that is about to move downward, and when the rotation restriction member is outside the specific rotation angle range, it interferes with the lock pin. A locking mechanism for equipment equipped with swivel casters, characterized by comprising: When traveling is selected by the selecting means, the selecting means and the transmitting means pull the lock pin up to a position where it does not intersect with the rotation restricting member, and when locking is selected, the lock pin moves between the rotation restricting member. 2. A lock mechanism for a device equipped with swivel casters according to claim 1, characterized in that it enables the device to be lowered to a position where it interferes. 3. A locking mechanism for a device equipped with swivel casters according to claim 1, wherein said transmission means restrains said lock pin from above and does not generate a pushing force when locking is selected.

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