US3487495A - Caster assembly - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 6, 1970 E. H. SCHULTZ, JR

CASTER ASSEMBLY Filed April 26, 1967 United States Patent 3,487,495 CASTER ASSEMBLY Edward H. Schultz, Jr., Glencoe, Ill., assignor to Nagel- Chase Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Apr. 26, 1967, Ser. No. 633,888 Int. Cl. 136% 33/00 U.S. C]. 16-20 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a caster assembly for use with an article of furniture defining a rectangular cavity. The caster assembly is retained in the cavity by a generally cuboidal bracket which engages surfaces of the cavity and a pintle of the caster assembly to hold the caster assembly against both sidewise and outward movement relative to the article of furniture, or the like.

It is a common practice to employ casters to support articles of furniture for rolling engagement with a floor or other support surface. The casters are usually subjected to both longitudinal or vertical and transverse or lateral stresses by the article of furniture. In order to transmit the longitudinal and transverse forces to a caster, the casters are usually fixedly connected to the article of furniture by relatively complex mounting assemblies. These mounting assemblies are expensive to fabricate and generally require considerable time and effort to attach to an article of furniture.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a caster mounting assembly which overcomes the aforementioned shortcomings of prior art structures. Specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide a bracket for connecting a caster to an article of furniture defining a cavity having a rectangular cross-section into which the bracket is slidably inserted.

Another object of this invention is to provide a bracket for mounting a caster on an article of furniture with a minimum of effort.

Other objects and features of this invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a caster mounted on a rectangular leg or housing of an article of furniture by a bracket which is slidably received within a cavity in the leg; 1

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view, taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 further illustrating the interrelationship between the bracket, caster and article of furniture;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view, taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2 illustrating the relationship of the bracket to inner surfaces of the cavity defined by the article of furniture;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view, taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2, further illustrating the interrelationship of the bracket, caster and article of furniture;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the bracket for interconnecting the caster and article of furniture in FIGS. 1 through 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view of a piece of sheet material from which the bracket of FIG. 5 is formed; and

FIG. 7 is a partial elevational view of a second embodiment of the invention.

A caster assembly 10 is shown in FIGS. .1 and 2 connected to a rectangular leg or housing 12 of an article of furniture by a bracket 14 which is slidably received within a cavity 16 defined by the leg 12. In addition to the bracket 14, the caster assembly 10 includes a yoke or frame 20 on which a wheel or roller 22 is rotatably mounted by an axle 24. A pintle or shaft member 26 extends upwardly from the frame 20 and is fixedly connected to the frame 20 by a head section 30. The caster assembly 10 is positioned in rolling engagement with a floor or support surface to facilitate movement of the article of furniture relative to the support surface in a well known manner.

The bracket 14 is generally cuboidal in shape and includes a pair of substantially parallel upwardly extending rectangular side sections 34 and 36 which are perhaps best seen in FIGS. 3 through 5. The side sections 34 and 36 extend upwardly from a rectangular base section 40. The base section 40 is somewhat larger in cross-sectional than the leg 12, so that outwardly extending support sections or flanges 44 and 46 (see FIG. 2) of the base section 40 engage a lowermost surface 50 of the leg 12 to position the bracket 14 in the cavity 16. The side sections 34 and 36 have relatively wide rectangular face surfaces 54 and 56 which are positioned in abutting engagement with side surfaces 58 and 60 of the cavity 16 (see FIG. 4) to retain the bracket against vertical or longitudinally outward movement relative to the leg 12. The side sections 34 and 36 also include relatively norrow rectangular side surfaces 64, 66, 68 and 70 which engage opposite parallel surfaces 74 and 76 of the cavity (as shown in FIG. 3) to retain the bracket 14 against sidewise or transverse movement relative to the leg 12.

As perhaps can be best seen in FIG. 5, the side sections 34 and 36 of the steel bracket 14 are initially formed in an upwardly and outwardly spreading relationship relative to each other. When the bracket 14 is inserted into the cavity 16, the face surfaces 54 and 56 of the side sections 34 and 36 engage the inner surfaces 58 and 60 of the leg 12 to resiliently press the side sections toward each other in a parallel relationship, as shown in FIG. 4. The side sections 34 and 36 press outwardly against the inner surfaces of the cavity 16 to frictionally retain the bracket against outward movement relative to the leg 12.

The base section 40 includes an upwardly projecting annular collar 80 which circumscribes an aperture 82 defined by the base section 40 (see FIG. 5). The bracket 14 is connected to the caster pintle 26 by a bearing member 84 formed of an antifriction material such as nylon. The bearing member 84 is rotatably mounted on the pintle 26 and fixedly engages the collar 80 to enable the bracket 14 to rotate relative to the pintle. A pair of radially outwardly extending protuberances 88 (see FIG. 2) are advantageously formed on the pintle 26 to retain the bearing 84 against axial movement on the pintle. The bearing 84 is positioned in sliding engagement with an upper surface of the frame 20 and the head section 30 of the pintle 26 to transmit load forces from the leg 12 to the wheel or roller 22.

The bracket 14 further includes a pair of transversely extending end sections 92 and 94 having upwardly and outwardly extending semicircular collars 96 and 98 which engage an upper or inner end portion of the pintle 26 (see FIG. 4) to retain the pintle against sidewise or transverse movement in a lateral direction relative to the leg 12. A pair of slots 102 and 104 are formed in the side sections 34 and '36 for receiving a screwdriver or similar object to pry the bracket 14 off the bearing 84.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the bracket 14 is an integral structure made from a single piece or metal stamping, indicated at 108 in FIG. 6. As can be seen, the piece of sheet metal 108 includes a base section 40 in which an aperture 82 is formed. A pair of side sections 34 and 36 extend outwardly from the base section 40. End sections 92 and 94 extend from the side sections 34 and 36. The piece of sheet metal 108 is bent along lines indicated at 110 and 112 to extend the leg sections 34 and 36 outwardly from the base section 40 in an upward direction, as shown in FIG. 5. The piece of metal 108 is then bent along the lines 114 and 116 to extend the end sections 92 and 94 inwardly, toward each other, from the side sections 34 and 36 (see FIG. 5). Thus, the bracket 14 is formed from a single sheet metal stamping 108 by bending the material at four places to form the integral generally cuboidal bracket 14. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that this construction is extremely efiicient and relatively inexpensive.

A second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 7. The embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 7 is substantially the same as the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 through 6. Therefore, similar components will be designated with similar numerals, the components of the embodiment of FIG. 7 being designated with numerals having the suffix b to distinguish the ele ments associated with FIG. 7 from the elements of FIGS. 1 through 6. A bracket 14b is shown in FIG. 7 mounted in engagement with a pintle 26b of a caster assembly. The bracket 14b is connected to a roller or ball bearing structure 120 to enable the pintle 26b and associated roller to pivot relative to a piece of furniture in a well known manner.

For purposes of affording a more complete understanding of the invention, it is advantageous now to provide a functional description of the mode in which the component parts thus far identified cooperate. The bracket 14 will be mounted on the caster assembly 10 by positioning the bracket in a coaxial relationship with the longitudinal axis of the pintle 26 and the central axis of the aperture 82. The bracket will then be moved inwardly toward the bearing 84 and pressed into engagement with the bearing 84, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. The pintle now extends through the aperture 82 and the base 40 of the bracket and through an aperture defined by the outer generally semicircular collars 96 and 98 which engage an outer end portion of the pintle 26. The side sections 34 and 36 will then be compressed toward the pintle 26 and the bracket 14 will be inserted into a cavity 16 (see FIG. 1) to interconnect the caster assembly 10 and the leg 12. The side sections 34 and 36 will be held inwardly by the side surfaces 58 and 60 of the cavity 16 to hold the collars 96 and 98 in engagement with the pintle 26. The relatively narrow side surfaces 64, 66, 68 and 70 (see FIG. 5) will engage opposite side surfaces 74 and 76 of the cavity 16 to retain the bracket 14 and the pintle 26 against sidewise movement in a direction transverse to the base surfaces 54 and 56 of the bracket 14. Of course, the side sections 34 :and 36 will engage the surfaces 58 and 60 to prevent sidewise movement in a direction perpendicular to these surfaces. Thus, the pintle 26 of the caster assembly 10 will be retained against lateral or transverse movement in a sidewise direction relative to the leg 12 by engagement of side surfaces of the generally cuboidal bracket 14 with surfaces of the cavity 16.

The caster assembly 10 will be retained against longitudinal or outward movement relative to the leg 12 by frictional engagement of the relatively wide longitudinally extending face surfaces 54 and 56 of the side sections 34 and 36 which press outwardly against the interior surfaces 58 and 60 of the cavity 16. This frictional abutting engagement'between the bracket 14 and the leg 12 will prevent the caster assembly 10 from becoming disconnected from the leg 12 when the article of furniture is lifted from the support surface or floor 32. The lower surface 50 of the leg 12 (see FIG. 2) will press against the outwardly extending support sections or flanges 44 and 46 of the base section 40 when a load is applied to the article of furniture to transmit this load from the leg 12 to the caster assembly 10.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown, it should be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited thereto since many modifications may be made; and it is, therefore, contemplated to cover by the appended claims any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A caster assembly device including; a frame; antifriction means, such as roller means on said frame for engaging a support surface, a pintle connected to and extending outwardly from said frame, a one piece sheet metal bracket means rotatably supporting said pintle and engageable with the walls defining a complementary cavity, as for example a cavity in the leg portion of a furniture structure, said bracket means including a transversely extending base section for positioning adjacent to an open end of the cavity, said base section defining an aperture through which said pintle extends, first and second substantially flat side sections extending upwardly from opposite margins of said base section in a spaced apart relationship with said pintle, the transverse dimension of the base between said margins not exceeding the distance between the outer surfaces of said side sections, the remaining integral opposite margins of said base extending laterally of the edges of said side sections to a limited degree suflicient to provide a support for the bottom of an associated workpiece, said first andv second side sections presenting longitudinally extending surfaces for frictionally engaging complementary interior surfaces which define the cavity and having a width substantially equal to the width of said interior surfaces, first and second end sections extending transversely from said first and second side sections respectively and engageable with opposed outer end surface portions of said pintle, said first and second end sections defining an aperture through which the outer end portion of said pintle extends to secure the outer end portion of said pintle against transverse movement relative to said bracket means while enabling said pintle to be rotated relative to said bracket, and anti-friction bearing means for the base section associated with the frame in the vicinity of the base of said pintle for supporting the underside of said base section.

2. A caster assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein: the anti-friction bearing means includes a self-lubricating annular plastic member.

3. A caster assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein: the anti-friction bearing means includes annular races and balls supported thereby.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 436,307 9/1890 Diss l639 933,999 9/1909 Luppert l639 1,023,222 4/1912 Palmer l639 3,166,780 l/1965 Schultz l621 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner D. L. TROUTMAN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 16-30, 39, 43

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