IM- PROVEMENTS IN CASTERS FOR FURNITURE, SKATES, AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Jacques Carmien, of Paris, in the Department of
the Seine, and Republic of France, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN CASTERS FOR FURNITURE, SKATES, AND OTHER ARTICLES."
ealed the 6th April 1877, and dated the 11th October 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Jacques Carmien at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th October 1876.
PIERRE JACQUES CARMIEN, of Paris, in the Department of the Seine, and Republic
of France, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTERS FOR FURNITURE, SKATES,
AND OTHER ARTICLES."
The casters in ordinary use are mostly rough cast and take considerable time to
finish; further, both from their forms and the quality of the material used, they are
much weaker than if they were made of wrought or rolled metal and according to
my Invention.
My improved caster will not only be very strong but also very cheap, as its
manufacture is simply a matter of cutting and stamping.
Casters made according to my Invention, and of dimensions according to their
destined use, may be applied advantageously to certain vehicles, barrows, and
trucks.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawing Figure 1 shows a caster of my Inven-
tion for skates; Figure 2, a caster for furniture; and Figure 3, a caster for cases.
With three strong rollers made as at Fig. 3, and without any frame, very heavy
packages and even blocks of stone may be moved with facility in railway stations,
docks, and warehouses. They will be put under the case to be shifted without any
particular care in fixing them, and it will only be necessary to push in the direction
it is desired to travel.
The caster for skates, shown Fig. 1 (to be placed on the fore part of the
skate), differs from those, Figs. 2 and 3, by an inside spring, which permits it only
a certain deviation to the right or left, and directly the pressure of the foot to the
right or left ceases it will come back of itself to the centre, that is to say, place
itself in a line with the ordinary roller or rollers placed under the heel.
The screw has no other function than that of upholding the cap or cover, and no

page_text: friction when the caster is laden. The screw might be dispensed with, and the cap
be set in the foot stock.
This improved caster may be made in picces, cut out and stamped, but they might
be cast. Two rollers may be used in this caster if desired.
If the spring be dispensed with in the caster for skates it is necessary to use a
stop, limiting the deviation from the horizontal; or both the spring and stop fixed
to the cap or cover may be used. With this caster the skater may exercise in a
very restricted space, turn in every direction, and stop where he pleases.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Pierre Jacques Carmien in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
April 1877.
<6
PIERRE JACQUES CARMIEN, of Paris, in the Department of the Seine and
Republic of France, Civil Engineer. IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTERS FOR FURNITURE,
SKATES, AND OTHER ARTICLES."
My Invention relates to improvements in casters, applicable equally to the
smallest and to the largest pieces of furniture, as well as to cases, packages,
apparatus intended to transport the heaviest loads, and to many other articles, and
consists of an inner arrangement which does away with the major part of the
friction in the horizontal rotation, and by means of a particular position of the
axle of the roller being the line or centre of gravity in the body of the caster within
the ring or circle which bears the load. I therefore base the principle of my Inven-
tion upon the removal of the line or centre of gravity to within the circle or ring
which supports the load. This circle consisting of a series of small balls, which
may turn freely in every direction in a seat or groove formed in the body of the
caster. These balls may be solid or hollow, of glass, iron, wood hardened, india-
rubber, or of any suitable material and of any diameter. I may make the body
of the caster either by fashioning it from rough castings of any material or by
stamping out the several parts.
The dimensions and the shape of the casters will vary according to require-
ment, I reserve the right,―
1°. To determine by the arrangement which I may deem suitable for the use of
this caster in a roller skate the portion of an are or segment of a circle that it may
be permitted to describe in a horizontal direction. For example, I may use an
inside spring permitting a deviation only to the right or left and bringing the
roller back to the centre directly the pressure of the foot to the right or the left
ceases.
2°. Of applying stamped tubular bushes or packing to the holes for the axles.
3°. Of varying infinitely the shape of my caster, adapting it to its multiplicity
of applications.
4°. To use in its manufacture any metals or other materials which I may find
suitable.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawing Figure 1 represents a box or plate with
three ears or lugs, through which pass the screws which are to fix the caster to
the article of furniture independently of the central screw E (Figure 6) the use of
which is optional. Within this box is a circular recess or groove A, in which are
placed, so that they may turn freely in every direction, the sinall metal balls, which
in turning upon themselves give to the caster its rotary motion. The entire load
or weight being carried by these balls, it follows that the centre or line of gravity
is always invariably fixed within the circle in which they travel, the result being
that the axis of the caster is by the inclination given to the forked plate or roller
support D constantly placed in a vertical line taken through the centre of gravity.
This is one of the essential conditions which causes the slightest pull or push

page_text: against the article of furniture to give a horizontal rotary motion to the caster and
place it in the direction of such pull or push. This rotation may be said to take
place without friction, without the slightest grinding so common to other casters,
for it must be remembered that the balls roll freely, and consequently rub nowhere;
and that which best proves this friction to be of no account is that the heavier the
piece of furniture or the greater the load carried the greater the facility and ease
with which this rotation is effected.
The boxes may be made with two cars or lugs, as at Figure 2, or with a cap or
ring, as at Figure 5, that is to say, that the outer ring or flange instead of being cut
away to form ears or lugs remains entire, so that as many wood screws may be
inserted as may be desired. These boxes are shown in section at Figures 3 and 4.
The central hole B (Figure 3) is bored to receive either a wood screw or a rivet,
which secures and forms the axis of the forked plate D. In Figure 4 the central
hole C is tapped, so that the forked plate D may be fixed and removed at will.
The groove or recess A in this box is a little more opened out than that, Figure 3,
but this is quite optional. The complete caster is shown at Figure 6 with its wood
screws.
For furniture of medium or of small size with turned feet I use the caster shown,
Figure 7. The interior arrangement of this castor is in every particular similar to
that above described. It is fixed to the foot of the piece of furniture by the wood
screw E (Figure 6).
To strengthen the foot of the piece of furniture and prevent it from splitting it
is provided with a ferrule, shown in section at Figure 9. The flat part a is
absolutely necessary, as it serves to strengthen the thickness of the box of the
caster. The ordinary ferrules or rings sunken or recessed beneath are therefore
not applicable to this kind of caster. The box may be made of one piece with the.
ring or ferrule, in this case the use of the wood screws would be optional.
In the caster for bedsteads or furniture made of iron, shown Figure 8, the hole O
is cast with the box, and is intended to receive the foot of the bedstead, which may
be screwed, driven, or soldered or pinned into it, or be held by a side screw.
The boxes and ferrules may be ornamented exteriorly, as may be desired, to suit
the richness of the furniture to which they are applied. I would here observe that
all the casters above described and shown on the accompanying Sheet of Drawing
are based on the same principle.
In addition to the advantages above set forth my improved caster, by the facility
of its application retaining the most usual outside shapes of casters, by its simplicity
compared with other casters is very superior to ordinary casters, and this simplicity
of construction permits its being sold very cheap.
Further, these casters cannot get out of order because the small spheres while not
wearing their circular seat or groove only get more and more rounded in rolling,
which very great advantage could not be realised by conical rollers, which by their
friction cut away the seat or circle in which they turn, sooner or later placing
themselves across it, and thus preventing the rotation of the caster.
°
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Jacques Carmien, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
Witnesses,
A. MEEUS.
J. B. GIRARD.
PIERRE JACQUES CARMIEN. (L.S.)