Improvements in connecting Castors to and Detaching them from Metallic and Non-metallic Furniture.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Sept., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 2nd June, 1897-Accepted, 10th July, 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in connecting Castors to and Detaching them from
Metallic and Non-metallic Furniture.
We, REUBEN CARTWRIGHT, trading as Charles Cartwright and Sons, of Hertford
Street, Balsall Heath, Birmingham in the County of Warwick, Metallic Bedstead
Manufacturer, and VINCENT EDWIN JAMES, of No. 66 Beech Road, Sparkhill, in the
County of Worcester, Manager of Works, and JOHN JONES, of No. 3 Brunswick Road,
Balsall Heath, aforesaid Works Foreman do hereby declare the nature of this
Invention to be as follows:-
The said invention has reference to swivelling castors for furniture, that is, castors
in which the horn part, carrying the ball or roller, swivels, in the case of metallic
furniture, upon the pin cast in the foot block of the metallic leg and in the case of
non-metallic furniture swivels upon the pin carried by the castor plate or socket; and
the object of this invention is to permit the said horn part of the castor to be readily
connected to and detached from the pin on which it swivels.
By making the castor horns capable of ready attachment to and detachment from
their pins the packing and transit of metallic bedsteads and other articles of furniture
having castors are facilitated, and the breaking of or injury to the said horns and
their bowls, especially when the latter are made of china, which frequently happens
during transit when the castors are permanently connected to their pins by rivetting
is avoided.
We will describe the said invention in connection with the castors of metallic
bedsteads to which it is particularly applicable.
We make in the pin cast in the foot block of the leg of the metallic bedstead, and
at a short distance below the said block, a groove V shape in section, that part of the
pin below the suid groove being made slightly taper; and we secure the horn of
the castor in its place on the said pin by means of a sheet metal elastic cup,
ferrule or thimble of the following construction and used in the manner hereinafter
described.
In making the said elastic cup, ferrule or thimble we take a sheet metal blank of
brass or other elastic sheet metal or alloy having a ringlike middle and three or more
wings or arms radiating from the said middle part. By means of a stamping or
pressing process the said radial wings or arms are bent or cupped inwards and their
ends brought nearly in contact, leaving between the said ends a circular opening. A
conical or dome or other shaped cup, ferrule or thimble is thus formed having a flat
or nearly flat base and having at its sides a series of radial spring tongues capable of
yielding outwards that is, from, the axis of the cup, ferrule or thimble, when pressure
is put upon them.
This elastic cup, ferrule or thimble is used for attaching the castor horn to the pin
in the leg of the metallic bedstead in the following way.
After the sleeve or tubular part of the horn has been placed by a sliding motion
upon the pin, the elastic cup, ferrule or thimble is passed on to the conical end of the
pin with its perforated base towards the horn; the elastic tongues of the cup or

page_text: ferrule are thereby expanded and when the ends of the said elastic tongues have
reached the groove in the pin the said elastic tongues snap into the said groove and
thereby securely hold the horn on the pin.
In order to detatch the horn from the castor pin it is necessary to exert a downward
or outward pressure upon the elastic cup or ferrule. The ends of the spring tongues
are thereby forced outwards by the inclined side of the groove in the pin and disengaged
from the said groove. The cup or ferrule is thereby released and the horn may be
detached from the pin.
Dated this twenty-first day of September 1896
Improvements in connecting Castors to and Detaching them from
Metallic and Non-metallic Furniture.
We, REUBEN CARTWRIGHT, trading as Charles Cartwright and Sons, of Hertford
Street, Balsall Heath, Birmingham in the County of Warwick, Metallic Bedstead
Manufacturer, and VINCENT EDWIN JAMES of No. 66 Beech Road, Sparkhill, in the
County of Worcester, Manager of Works and JOHN JONES of No. 3 Brunswick Road,
Balsall Heath, aforesaid Works Foreman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The said invention has reference to swivelling castors for furniture, that is, castors
in which the horn part, carrying the bowl or roller, swivels in the case of metallic
furniture, upon the pin cast in the foot block of the metallic leg and in the case of
non-metallic furniture swivels upon the pin carried by the castor plate or socket; and
the object of this invention is to permit the said horn part of the castor to be
readily connected to and detached from the pin on which it swivels.
By making the castor horns capable of ready attachment to and detachment from
their pins the packing and transit of metallic bedsteads and other articles of furniture
having castors, are facilitated and the breaking of or injury to the said horns and
their bowls, especially when the latter are made of china, which frequently happens
during transit when the castors are permanently connected to their pins by rivetting,
is avoided.
We will describe the said invention in connection with the castors of metallic
bedsteads to which it is particularly applicable.
We make in the pin cast in the foot block of the leg of the metallic bedstead, and
at a short distance below the said block a groove which may be taper or V shape in
cross section, and we secure the horn of the castor in its place on the said pin by
means of a sheet metal elastic cup, ferrule or thimble of the following construction
and used in the manner hereinafter described. In making the said elastic cup, ferrule
or thimble, we take a sheet metal blank of steel, brass or other elastic sheet metal or
alloy, having a ring like middle and three four or more wings or arms radiating from
the said middle part. By means of a stamping or pressing process the said radial
wings or arms are bent or cupped inwards and their ends brought nearly in contact,
leaving between the said ends a circular opening. A conical; or dome or other shaped
cup, ferrule or thimble is thus formed having a flat or nearly flat base and having at
its sides a series of radial spring tongues capable of yielding outwards, that is, from
the axis of the cup, ferrule or thimble, when pressure is put upon them.
This elastic cup, ferrule or thimble is used for attaching the castor horn to the pin
in the leg of the metallic bedstead in the following way.

page_text: After the sleeve or tubular part of the horn has been placed by a sliding motion
upon the pin, the elastic cup, ferrule or thimble is passed on to the said pin with its
perforated base towards the horn; the elastic tongues of the cup or ferrule are thereby
expanded and when the ends of the said elastic tongues have reached the groove in
the pin, the said elastic tongues snap into the said groove and thereby securely hold
the horn on the pin.
In order to detach the horn from the castor pin it is necessary to open out or
expand the ends of the spring tongues of the cup or ferrule and force them out of the
groove in the pin. The cup or ferrule is thereby released and the horn may be
detached from the pin.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in elevation the castor horn of a
metallic bedstead pillar connected to the pin cast in the foot block of the same
according to this invention, and Figure 2 represents a part of the same with the
elastic conical cup or ferrule in section; Figure 3 represents in elevation; Figure 4 in
plan of underside and Figure 5 in plan of upperside, the elastic conical cup or ferrule
detached from the castor pin and Figure 6 represents the sheet metal blank from
which the elastic conical cup or ferrule is made. The blank of steel or other elastic
metal has a ring like middle a and four (or other number of) wings or arms b, b
radiating from the ring like middle part a. By a stamping or pressing operation, the
said radial wings or arms b, b and the marginal part of the ring like middle a, are
bent or cupped inwards and the ends of the wings or arms brought nearly in contact,
leaving between the said ends a circular opening. A conical elastic cup, ferrule or
thimble is thus formed as represented in Figures 3, 4 and 5, the said cup or ferrule
consisting of a flat centrally perforated base at having at its sides a series of radial
spring or elastic tongues ba, & capable of yielding outwards or from the axis of the
cup or ferrule, when pressure is put upon them.
For the purpose of fixing the swivelling horn e Figures 1 and 2 to the pin d cast in
the foot block e of the metallic bedstead leg, by the use of the elastic cup or ferrule
Figures 3, 4 and 5, we make in the said castor pin d and near its termination, a
groove which may slightly taper downwards so as to form a shoulder between
it and the bottom or terminal end of the said pin as best seen in Figure 2.
In attaching the castor horn c to the pin d on the leg of the furniture, the sleeve or
tubular part of the said horn is passed by a sliding motion on to the pin d and the
elastic cup, ferrule or thimble Figures 3, 4 and 5 is then passed on to the pin, with
its perforated base a² towards the horn c. As the elastic tongues 62, 62 of the cup or
ferrule are passed over the enlarged terminal end of the castor pin, the said tongues
are opened outwards or expanded and when the perforated base a bears against the
sleeve of the castor horn, the ends of the elastic tongues have reached the groove f in
the castor pin and the said elastic tongues snap into the said groove as represented in
Figures 1 and 2 and thereby securely hold the horn on the pin, but permit of the
swivelling of the horn on the pin.
To detach the horn from the castor pin, the elastic tongues 62, 62 of the fixing cup
or ferrule are pressed outwards or expanded so as to disengage their ends from the
groove f in the said pin. The elastic cup or ferrule is thereby released and the horn
may be withdrawn from the pin.
Instead of giving the elastic cup or ferrule, a conical figure it may be made of a
dome or other figure.
When the swivelling horn of the castor works upon the pin carried by the castor
plate or socket as in the case of non-metallic furniture, we groove the pin of the said
plate or socket in the manner described and represented with respect to a pin cast in
the foot block of the metallic leg, for the elastic tongues of the fixing cup, ferrule or
thimble to engage with.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that we claim
as the said invention
The improvements in connecting castors to and detaching them. from

page_text: metallic and non-metallic furniture hereinbefore described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing; that is to say, connecting the swivelling horns of castors to
their pins by means of sheet metal elastic cups ferrules or thimbles of the kind
described and illustrated, the ends of the elastic tongues of the said cups, ferrules or
thimbles being made to snap into grooves in the said castor pins, the disconnecting
of the said horns from their pins being effected by expanding the said elastic tongues
and thereby releasing them from the said grooves substantially as described and
illustrated.
REUBEN CARTWRIGHT.
VINCENT EDWIN JAMES.
JOHN JONES.