JPH07228103A - Caster device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a caster device immovable owing to application of a load at the time of use, and adjust the size of the load by protrudingly-holding a main ball so as not to come off from the lower end opening of a movable element which is mounted so as to move vertically and is forced so as to adjust in the lower end direction in a hollow holder whose lower end surface is open. CONSTITUTION:A movable element 23 is fitted so as to slide smoothly on the lower end side of a holder 16 in a caster device 15, and at the movable element 23, a spherical storage part 24 which is open to the lower end surface is formed. Plural bearing balls 27 are stored in a circular groove 26 whose part is open. A main ball 25 is pressed in the storage part 24 so as to rotate smoothly. At the upper end part of the movable element 23, a spring 28 which forces it downwards is provided. The main ball 25 protrudes from the lower end surface of the holder 16, and the energizing force can be adjusted with an adjusting bolt 22. A bed can be moved freely with this caster device 15 at the time of no use, and it is locked automatically with the load of a user applied at the time of use, thus making the bed immovable.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a caster device attached to the lower end of a chair, a bed or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, furniture such as a chair or a bed which may be moved may be provided with a caster device at its lower end so that the caster can be moved easily.

As is well known, the conventional caster device has a metal fitting attached to the lower end of the furniture, and the roller is rotatably attached to the metal fitting to prevent the rotation of the roller. The stopper is provided. When it is desired to make the furniture immovable at a predetermined position, the stopper is operated to prevent the roller from rotating.

However, in a furniture using such a caster device, when it is desired to use the furniture in a state where the movement of the furniture is blocked, the stopper must be operated each time. Therefore, the operation of the stopper may be troublesome. In addition, the furniture may move during use, for example, by forgetting to operate the stopper or intentionally using it without any operation.

[0005]

As described above, when the caster device of the related art is used in a stationary state, the stopper must be operated. Therefore, it may be difficult to use or the stopper may not be operated. There are things such as forgetting to use it.

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to make a caster capable of being immovable by applying a load during use and adjusting the magnitude of the immovable load. To provide a device.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is a caster device for movably supporting a supported body, and a hollow holder having a lower end surface opened, and slidable in the holder. A movable body provided in the holder, a main ball which is rotatably attached to the lower end of the movable body via a bearing ball, and is retained in the lower end opening of the holder so as not to fall off, and the movable body is attached to the holder. An urging means for urging the main ball toward the lower end to project a part of the main ball from the lower end opening of the holder, and a repulsive force generated by the urging means when the holder is loaded and displaced downward. And an adjusting means for adjusting.

[0008]

According to the above construction, when a load is applied to the holder through the supported body, the holder is displaced downward against the urging force of the urging means, and the lower end of the holder is grounded, whereby the main body is grounded. The rotation of the holder is blocked, and the load for grounding the lower end of the holder is arbitrarily set by the adjusting means.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 5 show a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a bed 1 as furniture. This bed 1
Has a substrate 2. The base body 2 is formed by connecting a head board 4 to one end in the longitudinal direction of a pair of side plates 3 (one shown) spaced apart in parallel and a foot board 5 to the other end.
A receiving bar 6 is provided on the inner surface of each side plate 3 over substantially the entire length in the longitudinal direction, and a floor plate 7 is installed on the pair of receiving bars 6 by engaging both widthwise ends thereof. In addition, the floor plate 7 is the base 2
Is divided into two in the longitudinal direction. Floor board 7
The mattress 10 is placed on the top.

The side plate 3 is connected to the head board 4 and the foot board 5 by using a connecting tool 8 shown in FIG. The connecting member 8 is made of a metal plate bent in an L shape, one side of which is fixed to the inner surface of the end portion of the side plate 3 in the longitudinal direction by a screw 9, and the other end is formed with two hook portions 11 in the vertical direction. Has been done. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the hook portion 1
The other side of the connecting tool 8 is connected and fixed via the screw 1 to the embedded nut 12a embedded in the inner surface of the end portion of the head board 4 or the foot board 5 in the width direction.

On the other side of the connecting member 8, a screw 12 having the other side fixed to the head board 4 or the foot board 5 is provided.
The support 13 is attached by. The support 13 has a hollow right-angled triangular prism shape with an open hypotenuse, and a mounting hole 14 is formed in the bottom surface 13a.

A caster device 15 according to the present invention is mounted in the mounting hole 14. The caster device 15 has a hollow cylindrical holder 16 as shown in FIG. A screw ring 18 having an internal thread 17 formed on the inner peripheral surface thereof is fitted and fixed to the upper end of the holder 16. A disk-shaped adjusting body 19 is screwed onto the screw ring 18.

An insertion hole 21 is formed in the adjusting body 19 in the thickness direction. The adjusting body 1 is inserted into the insertion hole 21.
The adjustment bolt 22 is inserted from the lower surface side of the
2a is embedded and fixed in the adjusting body 19. That is,
The adjusting bolt 22 is integrally connected to the adjusting body 19.

A movable body 23 formed of an elastic material such as a synthetic resin is slidably fitted on the lower end side of the holder 16. The movable body 23 is formed with a spherical accommodating portion 24 at the lower end surface thereof, and the accommodating portion 24 accommodates and holds a main ball 25 formed of hard synthetic resin or rubber. ing.

The inner diameter dimension of the accommodation portion 24 opened to the lower end surface of the movable body 23 is set to be slightly smaller than the diameter dimension of the main ball 25. The main ball 25 is press-fitted into the accommodating portion 24 and held so as not to fall. An annular groove 26 is formed in the movable body 23, a part of which is opened to the accommodating portion 24. This annular groove 26
Accommodates a large number of bearing balls 27 having a diameter sufficiently smaller than that of the main ball 25. Therefore, the main board
The ball 25 is rotatably supported by the bearing ball 27.

The upper end surface of the movable body 23 and the adjusting body 19
A spring 28 that urges the movable body 23 downward is provided between the spring 28 and the lower end surface of the spring. Thereby, the main ball 2
Reference numeral 5 projects from the lower end surface of the holder 16, and the projecting position is regulated by the movable body 23 contacting a stopper portion 29 provided on the lower end surface of the holder 16.

The urging force by which the spring 28 urges the movable body 23 is adjusted by the adjusting bolt 22.
It can be adjusted by moving up and down. That is, the adjusting body 19
Is lowered, the spring 28 is compressed.
It is possible to increase the urging force for 3, and decrease it by increasing it. That is, in this embodiment, the adjusting body 19 and the adjusting bolt 22 form an adjusting means for adjusting the urging force of the spring 28.

In the caster device 15, the adjusting screw 22 is inserted into the mounting hole 14 of the support 13, and the nut 30 is screwed into the portion projecting from the bottom surface 13a, so that the base 2 of the bed 1 is fixed. Installed and fixed.

When the four caster devices 15 are provided on the bed 1, the total strength of the four springs 28 of the caster devices 15 is set to be substantially the same as or slightly larger than the load of the bed 1. As a result, the four caster devices 15 movably support the bed 1 with the main balls 25 protruding from the lower end surface of the holder 16.

An engaging groove 22a for engaging a tool (not shown) for rotating the bolt 22 is formed at the upper end of the adjusting bolt 22. The caster device 15 having the above structure is attached by inserting the adjusting bolt 22 into the attachment hole 14 of the bottom surface 13a of the support 13 and screwing the nut 31 therein.

According to the bed 1 in which the caster device 15 having such a structure is used, only the load of the bed 1 is applied to the caster device 15 when the user is not lying on the mattress 10. In that case, since the main ball 25 of the caster device 15 projects from the lower end surface of the holder 16,
The bed 1 can be moved freely.

When the user lies on the mattress 10 of the bed 1, the caster device 15 receives a load on the bed 1 and the user. When the load increases, the holder 16 moves down together with the bed 1 while compressing the spring 28. Thereby, the main ball 25 is relatively immersed in the boulder 16,
Since the stopper portion 29 provided on the lower end surface of the holder 16 is in contact with the floor surface, the bed 1 formed by the caster device 15 is used.
Is prevented from moving.

That is, the bed 1 can be freely moved by the caster device 15 when not in use, and the caster device 15 is automatically locked and immovable when the load of the user is applied during use. Therefore, the user does not have to lock or unlock the caster device 15 each time, which is convenient, and the bed 1 can be moved during use while forgetting to lock it. It is possible to eliminate things such as losing.

The load applied to the caster device 15 during use differs depending on the weight of the user, the structure of the bed 1, and the like. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the load that locks the caster device 15 in a state in which the bed 1 is not moved according to the change in the load applied to the caster device 15.

In such a case, the amount of compression of the spring 28 is adjusted by rotating the adjusting bolt 22 protruding from the upper end side of the holder 16 and moving the adjusting body 19 up and down. For example, if the adjusting body 19 is lowered to increase the compression amount of the spring 28, the repulsive force of the spring 28 also increases.
When a load is applied to 6, the holder 16 becomes difficult to move down. On the contrary, if the adjustment body 19 is raised to reduce the compression amount of the spring 28, the repulsive force of the spring 28 is also reduced, so that the holder 16 is easily lowered when a load is applied to the holder 16.

Therefore, even if the load applied to the caster device 15 changes due to the bed 1 having a different structure or the weight of the user, the caster device 15 can be used reliably in response to the change in the load. it can.

In the first embodiment, the caster device 15 of the present invention can be applied to the supported object instead of the bed 1 such as a sofa, a sofa-bed, or other furniture such as a chair. It doesn't matter at all.

6 and 7 show a second embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. In other words, the caster device 15A of this embodiment is the same as the caster device 15A of the first embodiment.
9 is not provided with an adjusting bolt 22, and instead of this, a polygonal engaging body 41, a hexagonal nut in this embodiment, is provided on the upper surface of the adjusting body 19 and is a recess formed on the upper surface of the adjusting body 19. It is attached and fixed to 42 by means such as welding.

Accordingly, by engaging a box wrench (not shown) with the engaging body 41, the adjusting body 19 can be rotated and the compression amount of the spring 28 can be adjusted. The caster device 15A having the above configuration can be attached to the supported body by using the attachment tool 51 shown in FIG. The above fixture 5
1 has a main body 52 made of synthetic resin, for example. The main body 52 includes a hollow cylindrical housing portion 53 at the center in the width direction.
Are formed, and both sides thereof are formed on the attachment piece 54.

The accommodating portion 53 has a lower end surface opened and an upper end surface closed, and the caster device 15A is inserted and held therein. The mounting hole 54 is provided in the mounting piece 54 of the main body 52.
5 is formed, and the main body 52 is attached to the first through the mounting hole 55.
The side plate 3 of the bed 1 shown in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 8 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the same parts as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. The caster device 15B of the third embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the means for adjusting the compression amount of the spring 28.

That is, in this embodiment, a screw 61 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the upper portion of the holder 16, and a cap 63 having an internal thread 62 formed on the inner peripheral surface thereof is screwed onto the external thread 61.

The spring 28 is provided between the inner surface of the cap 63 and the upper surface of the movable body 23. Therefore, by rotating the cap 63, the amount of compression of the spring 28 can be adjusted, so that it is possible to cope with a change in load.

The caster device 15B of the third embodiment
Also, it suffices to attach it to the supported body with the attachment 51 having the same configuration as the caster device 15A of the second embodiment. Figure 9
And FIG. 10 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the same parts as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted. That is, the caster device 15C of the fourth embodiment has the cylindrical holder 71.
The upper portion of the holder 71 is closed by the upper end plate 72,
The lower end is open, and a ring-shaped stopper portion 71 is provided at the lower end.
a is attached.

Inside the holder 71, a cylindrical movable body 73 made of an elastic material such as synthetic resin is slidably accommodated. A concave portion 73 is provided on the movable body 73.
a is formed, and the connecting plate 74 is fixed thereto.
The spring 28 is provided between the connecting plate 74 and the upper end plate 72.

A through hole 72a is inserted through the center of the upper end plate 72, and an adjusting screw 75 is inserted through the through hole 72a. The adjusting screw 75 is screwed into the connecting plate 74. Therefore, by rotating the adjusting screw 75, the connecting plate 7
Since the movable body 73 is displaced in the up-down direction via 4, the amount of compression of the spring 28 can be adjusted accordingly. The movable body 73 is formed with an escape portion 76 for escaping the portion of the adjusting screw 75 protruding from the connecting plate 74.

A spherical housing portion 77 is formed at the lower end of the movable body 73, and the main ball 25 is rotatably press-fitted and held in the housing portion 77. That is, the main ball 25
Is rotatably held so as not to drop from the accommodating portion 77.

The movable body 73 is formed with an annular groove 78 which is partially opened in the accommodating portion 77. A bearing ball 27 having a diameter sufficiently smaller than that of the main ball 25 is accommodated in the annular groove 78. A part of the main ball 25 is brought into contact with the bearing ball 27 so that it can be rotated.

The lower end of the movable body 73 has the holder 71.
A gage 79 composed of a plurality of scales is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the gage 79. The scale of this gauge 77 indicates the displacement amount when the movable body 73 is displaced by changing the compression amount of the spring 28 by rotating the adjusting screw 75, and the number attached to each scale is the appropriate scale. When the lower end of the main ball 25 is aligned with the lower end of the holder 71,
The load (kg) required to displace the movable body 73 until it coincides with the lower end surface of No. 1 is shown.

For example, the lower end of the holder 71 is gage 79
If you adjust it to the “Scale 20” of
When a kilogram load is applied, the lower end of the main ball 25 comes into contact with the floor surface to prevent rotation of the main ball 25.

Therefore, even in such a configuration,
By changing the compression amount of the spring 28, the load at which the rotation of the main ball 25 is blocked can be adjusted according to the fluctuation of the load.
In addition, when the four caster devices 15C are used as in the bed 1, for example, the numbers shown on the scale indicate the total loads applied to the four caster devices 15C.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a load larger than a predetermined value is applied to the supported member, the holder is displaced by the load against the biasing force of the spring and the lower end of the holder is grounded. The main ball rotatably provided on the lower end side of the is prevented from rotating. In other words, when there is no load, the main ball that can rotate freely
Since it can be locked so as not to rotate automatically when loaded, it is not only easy to use, but also never forgetting to use the lock.

Further, since the urging force applied to the holder by the spring can be adjusted, even if the load applied to the supported body changes, the rotation of the main ball automatically changes according to the changed load. It can be adjusted so that it is securely locked to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a caster device showing a first embodiment of the present invention in a state in which a main ball is rotatable.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which the rotation of the main ball is locked.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a bed similarly using the caster device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a mounting structure of the caster device.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the same.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view of a caster device showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a fixture for attaching the caster device to the supported body.

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view of a caster device showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional view of a caster device showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Supported body, 16 ... Holder, 19 ... Adjusting body (adjusting means), 23, 78 ... Movable body, 25 ... Main ball, 27 ... Bearing ball, 28 ... Spring (biasing means), 63 … Cap (adjusting means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A caster device for movably supporting a supported body, a hollow holder having a lower end surface opened, a movable body slidably provided in the holder, and a lower end portion of the movable body. A main ball, which is rotatably supported by a bearing ball and is held so as not to fall from the lower end opening of the holder, and the movable body is urged toward the lower end of the holder to partially remove the main ball. A caster device comprising: an urging means for projecting from the lower end opening of the holder; and an adjusting means for adjusting a repulsive force generated in the urging means when a load is applied to the holder and the holder is displaced downward.