Improvements in Furniture Castors.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in Furniture Castors.
A cominunication by ARTHUR CLEMENS DEDO SEIFERT, of 13 Altenheinenstrasse,
Chemnitz, Saxony, in the Empire of Germany, Cabinet Maker.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both in
the County of Lancaster, 118 New Street, Birmingham in the County of Warwick
and 322 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
It has been the practice hitherto when an article of furniture had to be placed on
an uneven floor, to support the foot or feet at the depression with a wedge or the
like in order to prevent any rocking of the piece of furniture. This very
inconvenient, as the article of furniture is not always placed exactly on the same spot,
and the wedge will not then fit, and moreover the wedge destroys the nice
appearance.
In order to meet these drawbacks according to the present invention the castor is
so arranged that it may be adjusted vertically by means of a simple handle so that
the use of a wedge is rendered superfluous.
In the accompanying drawings two forms of construction of the invention are
shown. The arrangement shown in Figures 1 and 2 will first he described, Figure 1
being a side elevation and Figure 2 a front elevation.
The face of the flange a of the bush or socket b is not arranged normal to the axis
of the bush but obliquely to the same, so that the flange has a wedge like appearance
and acts in the form of an inclined plane. The face is itself toothed radially so as to
engage by means of the teeth with a part hereinafter described. The shaft or shank c
of the roller fork carries at the side a bevel wheel toothed on its periphery which.
rotates on a pin e arranged on the shank, said bevel wheel being eccentrically mounted
on the said pin. This eccentric wheel engages with its teeth in the obliquely
running face of the flange a. If therefore the furniture castor be revolved in the
socket b, a rotation of the eccentric wheel also takes place, by which again an axial
adjustment of the wheel shank c in the socket 6 is produced as the eccentricity of the
wheel comes into play.
The pitch of the obliquely extending face of the flange a may if desired be made
equal to the eccentricity of the wheel d. The result of this is that with a suitable
adjustment of the wheel d, that is to say when for instance, the smallest radius of the same
is connected with the lowest point of the face of the flange a, on the rotation of
the fork shank c in the holder 6 an adjustment or displacement of the two last named
parts one against the other does not take place, and the castor can act like an
ordinary furniture castor. If however the floor be uneven, the wheel d must be
adjusted against the flange and the shank c turned in the socket b until the inequality
of the floor is equalised by the displacement or adjustment of the shank c in the
holder h

page_text: In the accompanying drawings, the eccentric d is so adjusted that the greatest
displacement of the fork shank c in the socket b takes place on the rotation of the
roller in the latter.
In place of the eccentric wheel, a simple pin may be inserted radially in the fork
shank c and pointed upwards to travel on the under toothed surface of the wedgė
shape flange a.
In this form of construction an adjustment of the fork bolt in the socket holder or
bush cannot take place to the extent attained by the use of the eccentric.
Figures 3, 4 and 5 show another form of construction of the vertically adjustable
furniture castor. In this modification the flange a of the socket b is formed with its
bottom face oblique or rather curved and is also toothed in its lower face. The
shank c has in its lower part also a flange d which is formed to correspond with the
flange a. As may be seen from the drawings, in this case also a vertical adjustment
of the furniture castor may be produced and a sure support in any position obtained
by means of the wedge shaped. flanges.
The roller has preferably a tread g of rubber or other equivalent material. This
tread is dovetailed in, as shown in Figure 7, or inserted in the manner shown in
Figure 8, the body f of the wheel being grooved or channeled so that a firm and good
connection between the tread and the body of the roller is secured.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A furniture castor vertically adjustable in the foot of the piece of furniture, and
characterised by a flange (a) toothed on its lower face and formed obliquely or as a
wedge on a socket (b) which is fixed in the foot of the piece of furniture, which
flange engages with a pin inserted radially in the fork shank, or with an eccentric (d)
toothed on its periphery and revolubly mounted on the fork shank (c) in such a way
that by turning the fork shank in the socket or bush a mutual action of the eccentric
parts, and thereby a vertical upward and downward movement of the roller is
produced, substantially as described.
2. A furniture castor vertically adjustable in the foot of the piece of furniture,
characterised by both the socket (b) which is fixed in the foot and the fork shank (c)
which is revoluble in the socket having each a wedge shaped toothed flange which
engage one another in such a way that by rotating the fork shank in the socket (b)
according to the direction of rotation higher or lower points on the same are brought
into engagement, whereby a vertical upward and downward adjustment of the roller
is produced, substantially as described.
3. A furniture castor channeled out with a dovetail groove on its periphery and
provided with a tread of indiarubber or other like material engaging in this channeled
out or recessed part so that the latter is securely held and fastened, substantially as
described.
4. A furniture castor, having on its periphery a series of channels or grooves in the
interstices of which a tread of indiarubber or other like material is engaged so as to
receive a secure and firm fastening or attachment, substantially as described.
11:
412 1
CAL
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