US1230502A - Caster. - Google Patents

Description

R.W. MlLLARD.

EASTER.

APPLICATION man OCT. 1a, 1916.

L230,502. Patented June 19, 1917.

WITNESSES INVENTOR y %%%M MW ATTORNEYS UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE:

REGINALD W. MILLARD, 0F MERIDEN. CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO FCSTER, MERRIAM & COMPANY, or MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, A

CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

CASTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 19, 1917.

Application filed October 18, 1916. Serial N 0; 126,408.

specification.

This invention relates generally to casters, and has more particular reference to metallic sockets for caster-shanks. When casters are designed to be employed in connection with comparatively light-weight articles of furniture, such as chairs, small tables, stands and the like, a longitudinal bore is provided at the end of the leg of the article and the caster-shank is frequently directly inserted therein, but'in connection with heavier articles, such as pianos, large tables, side-boards and the like, or articles which are designed to sustain a heavy load, such as large bookcases, lounges or settees, and the like, it will be apparent, first, that the wooden socket for the caster-shank-should be reinforced, to prevent splitting of the wood under the lateral strains created when the heavy article is moved, and, second, that greater freedom of movement of the roller in a lateral direction, to follow the direction of movement of the article itself, is required than can be obtained in any practical manner when the caster-shank is either firmly or loosely directly embedded in the wood. I

Therefore, metallic sockets of substantially tubular form have been provided, these sockets being designed to be firmly embedded in the bores provided therefor at the ends of the legs or in thelower face of the body portion of the article, these metallic sockets receiving and retaining the castershank which is usually rotatable therein.

These sockets have heretoforebeen provided either in the form of castings or in the form of sheet-metal stampings. Castings are objectionable for this purpose for many well-known reasons, amongwhich are that of excessive size and weight and that of the brittleness of. cast-metal. 7 While a stamped sheet-metal socket is undoubtedly a material improvement over acast socket, dilficulty has been experienced in economically forming the same from a fiat blank in such manner as to dependably fulfil the requirementswhich are, among others, that tially of being firmly and rigidly held in place when inserted in the bore provided therefor, and that of providing a bearing for the caster-shank which, while the latter is freely rotatable therein, will so snugly fit the same as to prevent appreciable lateral movement, or vlbration or'oscillation thereof.

The principal objects of the present inventlon are the provision of a stamped sheet- -metal socket which may be readily formed at one operation from a suitable blank, which when formed maybe readily inserted in the bore provided therefor in the article to be supported, which is self-securedat least to the extent of relieving strains upon other, fastening means-against dislodgment when positioned in said bore, and which provides the desired bearing for the caster-shank which, in the case of exceedingly heavy articles, such as pianos, is preferably permanently mounted in said socket yet freely rotatable therein.

y invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is aside elevation of a caster mounted in a socket embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a front be) view thereof; 7

Fig. 3 is a central section, taken substan- (or rear, as the case may on the line 33 of Fig. 2, including,

a fragment of a leg of the articlewhich the caster is designed to support, and

Fig. lis a-plan view of the blank from which the preferred form ofsocket is stamped.

Referring now to the drawingsin detail,

numeral 7 designates the cylindrical shank of a caster, preferably provided with a substantially dome-shaped end 8 and having an annular groove or channel 9 "near the end I thereof. This shank has preferably rotative connection with the yoke 10, the arms of which carry the axle 11 upon which the roller 12 is mounted. Theabove merely describes in brief a common construction. a V

A metallic socket 13, embodying my.in vention, is designed to be stamped at one operation from a flat sheet-metal blank, and

and well-known I I have shown in Fig. 4: the configuration or I contour of a blank which, as at present advised, best serves my purpose. As will be seen, this blank comprises a strip of metal having relatively wide and substantially rectangular end portions 1 1 and 15, bridged or connected by a relatively narrower portion 16 which gradually tapers from its ends toward the middle thereof, and at the middle and relatiyely narrowest portion of the strip are provided the laterally projecting, elongated, oppositely-disposed tongues 17 and 18. These various strip-portions are so proportioned that when the strip is bent at the middle thereof and the opposite ends brought contiguous to each other, the blank being simultaneously imparted a cylindrical form, the opposite recesses 19 and 20 (Figs. 1 and 2) formed at each side of the relatively narrow strip-portion 16 will be of substantially the same contour and approximately of the same size as the tongues 17 and 18 which, having also been simultaneously curved to cylindrical form, but in a transverse direction, are bent over into said recesses, which they fall a trifle short of filling, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, although the whole structure is now substantially in the form of a butted tube with a closed, and preferably dome-shaped, end.

The fiat blank is obviously of such size that the tube formed therefrom will snugly fit the bore 21 in the leg or other portion 22 of the article to be supported. It has been the general practice to firmly secure the socket within the bore by means of a plate 23 engaging said socket through the edges of a central orifice in said plate pressed between shoulders formed by an annular groove or channel at the end of the socket, said plate being secured to the bottom of the leg or other portion of the article to be carried preferably by means of screws 2% 2 1. However, on account of the shocks and jars to which both caster and socket are subjected when a heavy article carried thereby is being moved from one place to another. these screws have a tendency to work loose, and it will be apparent that my improved socket is so constructed and mounted as to relieve, to a more or less great extent, the strains upon the screws. In the first place, the in herent resiliency of sheet-metal prevents its remainingunless its elastic limit has been passed-in the form to which it may have been bent. the elastic forces invariably re turning the bent portions for at least a slight distance in a reverse direction. T herefore, my socket is not in true cylindrical form prior to insertion in the bore, and when therein the tendency of the side walls to expand at the lower portions thereof causes the socket. substantially as a whole, to more firmly grip the wood in which it is seated.

These elastic forces are even more marked in the bent tongues 17 and 18 which. being shorter, are relatively stifler, and these expanding forces cause the ends of the tongues to bite into the wood as shown-possibly to a somewhat exaggerated degree for purposes of illustration in Fig. 3, and thus firmly resist downward movement of the socket in its seat under any ordinary forces tending to dislodge the former.

Near the end of each of the tongues 17 and 18 is provided a small depression or indention 25, forming an interior protuberance which projects into the groove or channel 9 in the shank 7 of the caster, thus snugly and firmly retaining said shank in said socket yet permitting of rotation of the former. It will be noted, furthermore, that the groove or channel at the bottom of the socket, in which the plate 21 is mount-ed, also provides a lower bearing for the castershank.

It is believed to be apparent from the foregoing that I have provided a metallic socket for a caster-shank which is simple in construction, inexpensive in cost of manufacture and possessing a high degree of strength, and one which is so firmly seated when in place as to eliminate the necessity for the provision of a retaining plate, if desired, and which has all of the desired characteristics and performs all of the desired functions which a device of this character should have or is ordinarily called upon to perform.

Many modifications 'of minor details of my improved metallic socket for castershanks will doubtless readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art to which it appertains, and I therefore do not desire to limit my invention to the specific construction herein shown and described.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A socket for casters comprising a sheetmetal body of substantially uniform cylindrical configuration throughout its entire length and having downwardly directed tongues substantially forming parts of the cylindrical side wall thereof, and means on said tongues adapted to. cooperate with complemental means on the caster-stem to be inserted in said socket to retain said stem in said. socket.

A socket for casters comprising an integral, tubular, sheet-metal body of substantially uniform diameter throughout the length thereof and having downwardly directed, oppositely located tongues substantially forming parts of the cylindrical wall of the tube, and exterior indentions in said tongues forming interior lugs adapted to project into an annular channel in the easter-stem to be inserted in said socket.

3. As a socket for casters, a hollow body comprising an integral sheet-metal blank shaped to provide a butted tube of substantially uniform diameter having a rounded upper end and an open lower end, and tongues depending from the base of the 5 rounded portion of said upper end and prowall and the free ends of said tongues projecting slightly outwardly therefrom.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

REGINALD W. MILLARD.

jecting into corresponding recesses in the Witnesses: tubular wall of said body, the bases of said J. B. COGGINS, tongues being flush with the surface of said H. R. CHALKER.

flovies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

I no Washington, D. c.

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