US671978A - Insect-guard. - Google Patents

Description

Patented Apr. 16, I90l.

No. 67l,978.

(No Model.)

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDMUND RANDOLPH, OF JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA.

INSECT-GUARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO.'671,978, dated April 16, 1901.

Application filed September 22, 1899. serial No. 731,317. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, EDMUND RANDOLPH, a citizen of the United States, residing at J acksonville, in the county of Duval and State of Florida, have invented a new and useful In* sect-Guard, of which the following is a specification.

Thisinvention relates to insect-guards, and has for its objects to provide an improved device of this character which is designed for application to the legs of furniture and is formed to permit of the convenient attachment of the guard without removing the ordinary metallic socket com monly-inserted in the lower ends of furniture-legs and to permit of the use of the original caster, while at the same time having means to space the body of the guard out of contact with the floor or other support should it be desired to dispense with the caster. It is also designed to arrange the device for application to barrels, cabinets, and the like without changing either the guard or the device to which it may be applied and to form a convenient supportingleg therefor.

With these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings,and particularly pointed out in the appended claim, it being understood that changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details may be made within the scope of the claim without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved insect-guard applied to the leg of an article of furniture. Fig. 2 isa central vertical sectional view thereof. Fig. 3 is a detail inverted perspective view of the guard detached.

Corresponding parts are designated by like characters of reference in all of the figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the lower end of any ordinary furniture-leg having the usual metallic socket 2 driven into the lower end thereof and provided with the common outwardly-directed annular flange or bead 3, which projects at the lower end of the leg. Fitted within the metallic socket is the stem 4 of an ordinary caster. These parts are old and well known and have been shown merely to more adequately illustrate the application of the improved guard.

In carrying out the present invention I provide a dished circular plate 5, formed in a single casting and provided with a central circular opening 6. The central portion of the up per 0r convexed side of the plate is preferably flat, as indicated at 10 in Fig. 2 of the drawings, and in this flat face there is provided an annular recess or concavity 11, which surrounds and merges into the central opening.

-Arranged around the central opening and formed in the flat portion thereof is a series of small openings 12 for the reception of suitable fastenings, as will be hereinafter explained. Pendent from the walls of the central opening is an integral sleeve 7, which is open at opposite ends and also projects beyond the plane of the marginal edge of the plate. In one side of this sleeve there is provided a screw-threaded perforation 8 for the reception of a set-screw 9.

In the application of the device the caster is removed from the furniture-leg and the upper fiat portion 10 of the plate is placed flat against the lower end of the leg, so as to receive the flange 3 of the metallic socket 2 within the depression 6, so that the plate may rest evenly in contact with the leg. Suitable fastenings, such as screws 13, are then passed through the respective perforations 12 and set into the leg, so as to firmly connect the guard to the leg. It will now be apparent that as the sleeve 7 projects below the marginal edge of the plate the lower end of said sleeve may rest upon the floor or other support, and thus space the body of the guard above the floor, and also the caster-stem may be inserted through the sleeve and into the socket in the end of the furniture-leg, whereby the caster may be used or dispensed with without changing any of the parts. The under or concaved face of the dished plate should be covered with chalk or like material, across which insects cannot crawl, so as to prevent the latter from gaining access to the furniture-leg.

The set-screw 9 is designed to be set up against a small casterstem, so as to prevent looseness of a very small stem, and thus accommodate the device to stems of diiferent sizes.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the present device may be applied to the legs of furniture as now commonly provided with the metallic sockets without removing the latter, and this is an important advantage of the device, as it is next to impossible to remove the sockets. Thus the guard presents a complete article which may be conveniently applied to the legs of furniture without altering or changing the latter and also permitting of the original caster being used or dispensed with, as may be desired or necessary. It will also be noted that the lower end of the sleeve 7 always forms a support for the furniture or other article, as it rests upon the lower flanged end of the easter-stem when the latter is employed and upon the floor when the caster is dispensed with. Moreover,the device maybe conveniently applied to the bottom of sugar and molasses barrels and cabinets of various kinds, so as to form supporting-legs therefor and to prevent insects from gaining access thereto.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is

In a device of the class described, the combination with the leg 1, the inverted socket 2 having the projecting annular flange 3 at its bottom located at the lower'endof the leg and the caster provided with the tapering stem fitting in the socket 2, of the concavoconvex plate 5 presenting a concave lower face and provided with a central aperture and having a depressed portion around the same to receive the said flange 3, said plate having its convex face arranged against the lower end of the leg and provided with perforations located between the socket 2 and the outer faces of the leg, fastening devices passing through the perforations and securing the plate to the leg, the depending centrally-arranged sleeve 7 provided with a threaded perforation and formed integral with the plate, the latter projecting outward beyond the side faces of the leg and extending downwardly below the latter, and a set-screw arranged in the threaded perforation of the sleeve at a point below the plate and engagingthe stem of the caster, substantially as described.

In testimony thatI claim the foregoing as my own I-have hereto aifixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EDMUND RANDOLPH.

Witnesses:

T. H. BLENNS, J. H. STEPHENS.

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