AN IMPROVED BALL CASTER
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Frederick Redfern, of the General Patent Office,
4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED BALL CASTER." A communication from abroad
by Mademoiselle Emilie Sergent and Monsieur Maurice Valkenhuizen, both of
No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Republic of France.
Sealed the 20th January 1877, and dated the 2nd August 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Frederick Redfern at
the Office of the Cominissioners of Patents on the 2nd August 1876.
GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the General Patent Office, 4, South Street,
Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent. "AN IMPROVED BALL
CASTER."
This Invention consists in the construction of an improved ball caster for fur-
niture and other articles where casters are usually employed.
The improved caster is constructed of a ball or sphere enclosed within a socket or
casing, from which it only slightly projects. The upper part of the ball bears
against a small steel pin or axis having a flat head; this pin passes through a lens-
shaped piece of metal or bob having a diameter slightly less than the socket or
casing in which it is placed. The upper end of the pin bears against a steel
disc forming the bottom of the socket or casing, or placed against the bottom
thereof.
The improved caster is attached to the foet or legs of furniture and other articles
in the usual manner.
Instead of the lens-shaped piece of metal or bob with a pin passing through it,
as herein-before described, a hollow cap may be employed, resting on the bottom of
the socket or casing; in this cap is placed a metal piece of the shape of a rounded
cone at the top, and having a flat bottom, against which bears the ball of the
caster.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Frederick Redfern in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 1st
February 1877.
GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the General Patent Office, 4, South Street,
"AN IMPROVED BALL
Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent.
CASTER." A communication from abroad by Mademoisello Emilie Sergent and
Monsieur Maurice Valkenhuisen, both of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the
Republic of France.
This Invention consists in the construction of an improved ball caster for fur-
'niture and other articles where casters are usually employed.
To make the Invention communicated to me better understood I will proceed to
describe the same by reference to the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 is
a vertical section of the improved caster, and Figure 4 a plan of the under side of
the same; Figures 2 and 3, views of some of the parts detached.
A is a plain or ornamental socket of a cylindrical form, and made of any suitable
metal, which receives the ball B, made of wood, metal, or other suitable hard
material. The ball B bears against the piece C (shewn detached in Figure 3), and
which I call a lens-axis (lentille-axe); this piece is flat on the under side, and
slightly conical on its upper surface, and its diameter is slightly less than the
interior of the socket; the rounded point of this lens-axis bears against a plate D, of
the same diameter as C, slightly convex, and the projecting part of which works
against the bottom of the socket. The socket is fixed by any suitable means, such,
for example, as a pin or a screw to the foot or leg of the piece of furniture or other
article which is required to be moved over any plain surface.
The various parts of the caster may be made of steel or any other suitable hard
material, metal, or otherwise.
The superposition of the ball of the lens-axis and of the convex disc or plate in
the interior of a cylindrical socket constitutes the principle of the Invention.
The combination of the steel lens-axis C and the disc or plate D, also of steel, by
the effect of a vibrating movement causes the ball to move from the place it occupies
at the least impulsion which the caster receives, which assists the rotation of the
ball in all directions without disturbing the centre of gravity of its fulcrum.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Frederick Redfern, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this First day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.