IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTORS.
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Williams Box, of Crayford, in the County of
Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTORS.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Williams Box
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th September 1877.
WILLIAM WILLIAMS Box, of Crayford, in the County of Kent. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CASTORS."
The object of this Invention is to construct castors in such a manner and of such
materials as will ensure their durability, and at the same time, from their simplicity,
afford ease in working and economy and facility for their manufacture, but little
fitting being required for the finishing of them.
The Invention consists in casting a socket of brass or malleable iron of such form
as will admit of a chair or other leg being inserted or fastened thereto, as in the
ordinary way. This may be called the leg socket. The lower part of this leg
socket is cast in the interior, partly spherical, so as to allow a ball which is dropped
therein from the top to project beyond the bottom and be exposed. Over the ball,
when so inserted, is placed a socket, which, for the sake of distinction, may be called
the ball socket. This socket is cast with a hollow corresponding in size to that of
the ball, and serves as a bearer and guide for the said ball. Both ball and ball socket
are of iron, cast in chills, and are so accurately made as to require but little or no
grinding to fit them for use. The ball socket is cast with a shoulder or flange, and
the leg socket has also a shoulder corresponding to that of the ball socket, so that
when one is dropped into the other the ball socket may be kept firmly in its
seat by a screw, key, or pin.
For such furniture as presents an extended surface for the fixing of the castor,
the sockets may be made with an exterior flange, and only sufficiently deep to
receive the ball socket and ball.
A modification of the foregoing consists in casting a leg socket with or without
serrations or indentations on its lower edge, so that the ball socket and ball may be
ᎠᎪᏗ 1

page_text: inserted at the bottom, and allow of the orifice formed by the edge of the leg socket
to be contracted by a suitable press sufficiently to retain the ball in its place without
interfering with its freedom of revolution.
In order to adapt this kind of castor to iron or metal bedsteads, for which it is
very suitable, that part which would be ordinarily attached to the leg socket has
either rivetted or cast in it a wrought-iron pin which projects sufficiently to admit
of its insertion in the chill and permit the boss usually fixed to the bottom of tho
leg being cast round it.
The use of a ball as a castor is not new, but the foregoing arrangement whereby
both the ball and that part herein-before called the ball socket may be cast in chills
and retained within the leg socket, so as to render the castor efficient and durable,
is new.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Williams Box in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
March 1878:
WILLIAM WILLIAMS Box, of Crayford, in the County of Kent.
IN CASTORS."
"IMPROVEMENTS
The object of this Invention is to construct castors in such a manner and of such
materials as will ensure their durability, and at the same time, from their simplicity,
afford ease in working and economy and facility for their manufacture, but little
fitting being required for the finishing of them.
The Invention consists in casting a socket of brass or malleablo iron of such form
as will admit of a chair or other leg being inserted and fastened thereto, as in the
ordinary way. This may be called the leg socket. The lower part of this leg socket
is cast in the interior, partly spherical, so as to allow a ball which is dropped therein
from the top to project beyond the bottom and be exposed. Over the ball, when so
inserted, is placed a socket, which, for the sake of distinction, may be called the ball
socket. This socket is cast with a hollow corresponding in curvature to that of the
ball, and serves as a bearer and guide for the said ball. Both ball and ball socket
are of iron, cast in chills, and are so accurately made as to require but little or no
grinding or smoothing to fit them for use. The ball socket is cast with a shoulder
or flange, and the leg socket has also a shoulder corresponding to that of the ball
socket, so that when one is dropped into the other the ball socket may be kept firmly
in its seat by a screw, key, or pin.
For such furniture as presents an extended surface for the fixing of the castor the
sockets may be made with an exterior flange, and only sufficiently deep to receive
the ball socket and ball.
A modification of the foregoing consists in casting a leg socket with or without
serrations or indentations on its lower edge, so that the ball socket and ball may be
inserted at the bottom and allow of the orifice formed by the edge of the leg socket
to be contracted by a suitable press sufficiently to retain the ball in its place without
interfering with its freedom of revolution.
In order to adapt this kind of castor to iron or metal bedsteads, for which it is
very suitable, that part which would be ordinarily attached to the leg socket has
either rivetted or cast in it a wrought-iron pin which projects sufficiently to admit of

page_text: its insertion in the chill and permit the boss usually fixed to the bottom of the leg
being cast round it.
With the view of making the foregoing more easily understood, Drawings are
attached hereto, of which the following is a description
-
Fig. 1 is an elevation, and Fig. 2 a vertical section of the castor, in the latter of
which is the leg socket; B, the ball socket; and C, the ball.
Fig. 3 is a modification, in which the ball and ball socket are inserted from the
bottom, while the ornamental points D, D, are extended. These points are subse-
quently compressed at their lower edge, as shown in the Figure, and thus retain the
ball and ball socket, the ball being still free to roll in any direction. This form
admits of the leg socket being contracted to suit the size of light furniture.
Fig. 4 is a section of the arrangement adapted for fixing the castors to the legs of
iron or metal bedsteads and similar articles. In this Fig. E is a wrought-iron pin
rivetted to the socket A, and projecting so as to admit of its insertion in the chill
wherein the boss F is cast that connects the socket A and leg G together. In this
case, as in Fig. 3, the ball and ball socket are inserted from below and the points
D, D, compressed afterwards, as shown in Fig. 5, which is an elevation of Fig. 4.
Figure 6 is a section of a castor similar to Fig. 1, but having a flange H to suit it
for screwing to furniture having a more extended surface than a chair leg to fasten
it to.
It will be evident that castors made so that the ball and ball socket may be
introduced from below, as in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, may also be constructed with flanges,
as in Fig. 7, the lower edge of the opening being compressed after the ball and ball
socket have been put in their places.
The use of a ball as a castor is not new, but the foregoing arrangement, whereby
both the ball and that part herein-before called the ball socket may be cast in chills
and retained within the leg socket, so as to render the castor efficient and durable,
is new.
Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of this Invention,
and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I
would observe in conclusion that I do not confine or restrict myself to the precise
details or arrangements I have described or referred to, as variations may be made
therefrom without deviating from the principle or main features of this Invention,
but what I consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
Firstly. The construction of castors so as to admit of a ball and ball socket being
introduced from above, as herein described and shown on the Drawings.
Secondly. The construction of castors so as to admit of the ball and ball socket
being introduced from below, and subsequently contracting the lower part of the
leg socket, so as to retain the ball and its socket in their places, as herein-before
described and shown on the Drawings.
And, Thirdly. The casting of balls and ball sockets of iron in chills, for the parti-
cular purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Williams Box, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.'
W. W. BOX. (LS.)