IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTORS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO REDUCING FRICTION BETWEEN ROLLING AND OTHER REVOLVING SURFACES.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Lillie, of the City of Manchester,
Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CASTORS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO REDUCING FRICTION BETWEEN ROLLING AND
OTHER REVOLVING SURFACES.'
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Lillic at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th September 1875.
I, JOSEPH LILLIE, of the City of Manchester, Mechanical Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of “ IMPROVEMENTS IN
CASTORS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO REDUCING FRICTION BETWEEN ROLLING AND OTHER
REVOLVING SURFACES," to be as follows:-
In carrying out my Invention, and as applied in the construction of
castors, I employ by proference three balls of small diameter mounted
loosely upon spindles which are not only capable of revolving on their
horizontal axes, but of also turning in a horizontal plane round a
"

page_text: vertical axis. For this purpose I form annular or countersunk recesses
of suitable diameter and depth at equal distances apart, but still as near
together as possible in the framework or casing of the castor to receive
such spindles. The balls which thus occupy the centre of these recesses
form a tripod to receive the weight to be carried by the castor, and
project sufficiently far out of the recesses to rest upon a ball of larger
diameter, which constitutes the main rolling surface. The centre of
gravity is thus constantly maintained, and as it is only the peripheries
of the balls which are in contact it will be readily understood that
friction is reduced to the minimum, and a castor is constructed capable
of moving in any and every direction with equal facility and with a
sweetness of action hitherto unattainable. This principle of construction
is also applicable in reducing friction between other rolling, revolving,
or moving surfaces, such as turntables, locking apparatus of vehicles,
and other similar apparatus.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Joseph
Lillie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
LILLIE, of the City of Manchester, Mechanical Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Lillie, Her special licence
that I, the said Joseph Lillie, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Lillie, my exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTORS, ALSO APPLICABLE TO REDUCING FRICTION BETWEEN
ROLLING AND OTHER REVOLVING SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst
others that I, the said Joseph Lillie, my executors or administrators,

page_text: by un instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office on or before
the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-six.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Lillie, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
) by the following statement :-
"
In order that this my said Invention may be the more readily seen
and understood I have hereunto annexed a Drawing illustrating my
Invention as applied to a castor.
Fig. 1 is a full size front exterior view; Fig. 2, a sectional plan shewing
3 the top cap removed; and Fig. 3, a front sectional view of Fig. 2 across
the line a-b.
'
In all the views A is the top cap, the socket B of which serves to
permit the castor to be affixed to the leg of a table or other piece of
furnature, and O is the bottom casing to enclose the bottom part of the
) castor. These two parts A and C are preferred to screw into the central
plate D, as illustrated, but I do not confine myself to this method of
construction, as it will be apparent that the top cap A and such central
plate may be formed in one casting, and the bottom casing be affixed to
the central plate in any other convenient manner. In the central
3 plate D three round holes E are formed to receive the balls E³, which
are each mounted upon spindles F, the extremities of which project
beyond the peripheries of such balls into annular recesses G (seen dotted
in Fig. 2) surrounding the holes E, and thus such balls not only have a
revolving motion upon their axis, viz., the spindles F, but the spindles
) and balls are capable of turning completely round in a horizontal plane
in the annular recesses G.
Instead of three balls a greater number may be employed mounted in
a similar manner. H is a metallic disc plate which keeps the spindles
in position in case the castor is raised bodily from the ground, and I is
the main or central ball for carrying the entire weight required to be
borno by the castor, for which purpose it is situated centrally beneath
the other balls which rest upon it, as seen more clearly dotted in Fig. 2,

page_text: This ball I thus constitutes the main rolling surface, and projects slightly
through a hole J formed in the lower part of the bottom casing C,
such hole J being of smaller diameter than the ball in order to provent
the latter falling out of its place when the castor is raised from the
ground.
It will be readily seen, as it is only the peripheries of the balls which
are in contact, that friction is reduced to the minimum in this castor,
and that from the peculiar mounting of the balls upon spindles capable
of completely turning round a vertical axis a castor is constructed
capable of moving in any or every direction with equal facility and with
a sweetness of action hitherto unattainable. This principle of construc-
tion is also applicable in reducing friction between other rolling,
revolving, or moving surfaces, such as in turntables, locking apparatus
of vehicles, heavy gates, cranes, planing machine beds, and as a substi-
tute for wheels for tram cars and other similar apparatus.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
my said Invention together with the best methods with which I am
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, I desire it to be
understood that I make no claim to the use of balls for the purposes
described, except when mounted and operating as herein-before described,
and I wish it to be understood that I claim,-
1st. The general construction of castor herein-before described and
illustrated on the accompanying Drawing.
2nd. The peculiar method of mounting the balls upon spindles
projecting beyond their peripheries into annular recesses, as and for the
purposes herein-before described and illustrated on the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof. I, the said Joseph Lillie, have hereunto set
Drawing.
In witness whereof. I. the said Joseph Lillie, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year
of our Lord 1876.
6