JPH07266804A - Freely rotatable caster - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent generation of noise by interposing upper pieces of a support frame between sliding ball groups on the upper side and the lower side of a rotatable caster, rotatably assembling the upper pieces to a main spindle as one of ball bearers for sandwiching the sliding ball group, and pressing the ball bearer against the sliding ball group by an elastic plate laminated thereto and assembled to the main spindle. CONSTITUTION:A spiral part 11 and a flange part 12 are provided on the upper part of a main spindle 7 and at the central part thereof respectively, upper ball bearers 9 and upper pieces 2 of a support frame 1 are interposed between the flange part 12 and lower ball bearers 8 fixed at the bottom end part of the main spindle 7 so as to make them vertically movable and assembled to the main spindle 7, the upper sliding ball group 6 and a lower sliding ball group 6' are sandwiched by upper ball bearers 9 and the upper pieces 2, and the upper pieces 2 and the lower ball bearers 8 respectively, the upper ball bearers 9 and the upper pieces 2 of the support frame 1 are energized downward in the direction of the lower ball bearers 8 so as to press respective boards 2, 8, 9 against the respondent sliding ball groups 6, 6'. In the case of floating from a floor face, no clearance is produced between the ball bearers and the sliding bodies so as to reduce noise generation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a swivel caster used for facilitating movement of chairs, carts and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Needless to mention a specific example, a ball holding an upper piece of a wheel support frame between an upper slide ball group and a lower slide ball group and holding the upper slide piece between the slide ball groups. As one of the base plates, there is a structure in which the main shaft is rotatably assembled.

[0003]

The universal caster having the conventional structure has been used without any structural modification due to its good basic performance, but noise due to structural causes cannot be denied. In order to reduce noise by selecting the wheel material and improving the assembly accuracy, the structure is not designed to muffle noise positively.

The present invention was devised with the object of providing a universal caster which does not generate noise as much as possible.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] An upper piece of a support frame is interposed between an upper slide ball group and a lower slide ball group, and the upper piece serves as one of ball support plates for holding the slide ball group. A structure in which a ball bearing plate, which is rotatably assembled to a main shaft and holds the upper and lower sliding ball groups, is laminated on the ball bearing plate and pressed against the sliding ball group by an elastic plate assembled to the spindle. And

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The drawings show an embodiment of a universal caster according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a first embodiment and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a second embodiment. In each embodiment, 1 is an upper piece. 2 is a groove-shaped wheel support frame in which side pieces 3 and 3 are connected to each other on both sides of the wheel 2, and a wheel 5 is provided by an axle 4 laid on the side pieces 3 and 3 of the support frame 1.
Is assembled to the support frame 1. In each embodiment, the upper sliding ball 6
The upper piece 2 is interposed between the group and the lower group of sliding balls 6'and the support frame 1 is rotatably assembled to the main shaft 7, and the upper piece 2 or the ball bearing is constructed as one of the ball bearing plates. The plates 8 and 9 are attached to the sliding balls 6,
The 6'group is pressed against the main shaft 7 by the elastic plate 10.

[0007].

First Embodiment The first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is one in which the present invention is applied to a so-called screw-in type caster, in which a screw rod portion 11 is provided on an upper portion of a main shaft 7 and a collar portion 12 is provided at an intermediate portion. The upper ball bearing plate 9 and the upper piece 2 of the support frame 1 are interposed between the flange portion 12 and the lower ball bearing plate 8 fixed to the lower end of the spindle 7 so that the spindle 7 can be moved vertically. Assembling, the upper ball bearing plate 9 and the upper piece 2 hold the upper slide balls 6 group, and the upper piece 2 and the lower ball bearing plate 8 hold the lower slide ball 6'group. The upper and lower ball bearing plates 9 and the upper piece 2 of the support frame 1 are supported by the elastic plate 10 by vertically compressing and interposing between the collar portion 12 and the upper ball bearing plate 9. The sliding balls 6, 6'groups that can be supported by descending and urging in the direction of the plates 8 and 2,
9 is pressed.

[0008]

[Second Embodiment] The second embodiment shown in FIG. 2 is a so-called flat type caster to which the present invention is applied, in which a lower ball bearing plate 8 and a mounting plate 13 are fixed to a main shaft 7, Each of these plates 8,
The upper ball bearing plate 9 and the upper piece 2 of the support frame 1 are mounted between the mounting shaft 13 and the upper ball bearing plate 9 so as to be vertically movable by interposing the former on the upper side. Upper ball 6 between
While interposing a group and holding them by these, the upper piece 2
The lower slide balls 6'group are interposed between the upper and lower ball bearing plates 8 and sandwiched between them, and the elastic plate 10 is vertically moved between the upper piece 2 and the upper ball bearing plate 9. Top piece 2 compressed and interposed
And the ball bearing plate 9 are pressed in the direction of separation from each other and pressed against the corresponding slide balls 6, 6'group.

The elastic plate (also in the first embodiment) is generally made of rubber, but may be made of resin.

[0010]

Since the present invention has the above-mentioned constitution,
Since the ball bearing plate that sandwiches this against the sliding ball is constantly in pressure contact, there is no gap between the ball bearing plate and the sliding body even if it is lifted from the floor (road) surface, Therefore, it is possible to reduce the generation of noise.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Wheel Support Frame 2 Upper Piece 6 Upper Sliding Ball 6'Lower Sliding Ball 7 Spindle 8 Lower Ball Bearing Plate 9 Upper Ball Bearing Plate

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An upper piece of a supporting frame is interposed between an upper slide ball group and a lower slide ball group, and the upper piece is rotated about a main shaft as one of ball support plates for holding the slide ball group. A universal caster in which a ball bearing plate, which is freely assembled and holds the upper and lower slide ball groups, is stacked on the ball bearing plate and brought into pressure contact with the slide ball group by an elastic plate assembled to the spindle.