AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CASTORS FOR TABLES, CHAIRS, AND OTHER FURNITURE, OR OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Fitter, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Machinist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CASTORS FOR TABLES, CHAIRS, AND OTHER
FURNITURE, OR OTHER ARTICLES."
Sealed the 4th August 1863, and dated the 25th February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Fitter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
February 1863.
I, JOSEPH FITTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CASTORS FOR TABLES, CHAIRS, AND OTHER
FURNITURE, OR OTHER ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
1st, I make the castors to work with a series of antifriction rollers of such
size as may be necessary, and placed loose in a groove or other receptacle
between the socket and plate and the horn of the castor, and so arranged as to
sustain the weight of the table, chair, or other article to which they may be
affixed, thereby giving free action to the horn of the castor, and thus ease it of
the friction.
2nd, I also sometimes place a plate or frame loose in the groove or other

page_text: receptacle, in which are made holes or spaces in a circle of such size as to
admit a smaller number of rollers, one or more to be placed in each of such
spaces or holes, either loose or working on spindles, allowing them to move
round freely as the horn of the castor moves.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Joseph Fitter in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
FITTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Fitter, Her special licence, that I, the said Joseph
Fitter, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Joseph Fitter, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IM-
PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CASTORS FOR TABLES,
CHAIRS, AND OTHER FURNITURE, OR OTHER ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Joseph Fitter, my executors or administrators, by an
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 within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Fitter, 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, that is to say :-
My improvement or improvements for the construction of castors for tables,
chairs, and other furniture, or other articles, consists in the arrangement of a
series of antifriction rollers within an inverted circular groove formed round

page_text: the under side of the castor socket, or round the under side of the plate upon
which the article to be moved is intended to rest if applied to a plate castor.
The outer side or flange of the groove being made to enclose or encompass
the rim or edge of the plate or disc forming the upper part of the horn of the
castor, and upon which the antifriction rollers revolve freely enclosed within
the inverted groove before described, the antifriction rollers loosely filling the
circular groove or cavity in which they move without spindles or axles to
impede or control their motion, and all the rollers being of the same size, each
one will bear an equal portion of the weight resting upon the castor, and by
placing the horns of the castors nearer the centre of the castors than they are
usually placed, the bowls of the castors will quickly adapt themselves to move
the table or other article to which they may be fixed with very slight deviation
freely to any desired position, whatever be the size or weight.
Figure 1 represents a socket castor complete; Figure 2 is a representation
of the same description of castor in cross sections, shewing the antifriction
rollers in working position. C is the horn of the castor, which works under-
neath the antifriction rollers B, B, and which holds the bowl upon which the
castor runs; Figure 3 is a horizontal view of the under side of the bottom of
the castor socket, shewing the circular groove filled with antifriction rollers
B, B, see Figures 2 and 5, and under which the horn revolves round the
central spindle; Figure 4 is a view of a plate castor complete; Figure 5 is a
representation of Figure 4 in cross section, showing the antifriction rollers B, B,
in their respective places, C being the horn of the castor, which revolves
beneath the antifriction rollers B, B, see Figures 2 and 5, and contains the
bowl upon which the castor runs; Figure 6 is a horizontal view of Figure 4,
being the under side of the plate of the castor, and showing the circular
groove filled with the antifriction rollers, see Figures 2 and 5, which revolve
upon the upper surface or disc of the horn C of the castor; Figures 7 and 8
are a front and side view of the antifriction rollers detached; Figures 9
and 10 are the same as Figures 7 and 8; Figure 11 is a representation of
horn of the castor detached.
The method of making my improved castor is that usually practised in
making ordinary castors, except as follows:-I make the socket of the castor
with a rim or collar round the outside of the bottom, to enclose the outer edge
of the disc or plate forming the top of the horn C of the castor, and upon
which the antifriction rollers revolve. Inside this rim I either cast in making
or turn afterwards a circular groove, as shewn in Figures 3 and 6. In the
centre of this socket I also cast in making or afterwards drill a hole, into

page_text: which is rivetted or otherwise fixed a pin or spindle (I sometimes cast the
spindle in while making the socket), which I make to pass through a hole in
the centre of the disc or upper part of the horn C, the hole being made
sufficiently large to allow the horn to revolve freely round it. I secure the
end of the pin beneath the disc or plate by means of a screw nut, or other-
wise, thereby connecting the socket and the horn of the castor together, after
loosely filling the circular groove with the antifriction rollers, as shewn in
Figures 3 and 6, without either spindles or axles to the rollers. I sometimes
place small pieces of metal or wood between the rollers to prevent noise, but
I prefer to have nothing between the rollers to interfere with their free action
upon the upper surface of the disc or plate which forms the top of the horn C
of the castor, which, under the action of the rollers revolves freely round the
pin or spindle connecting the horn and socket of the castor together, causing
the bowl of the castor to assume quickly a position to carry the weight
supported nearly or quite in a straight line in any direction.
The manner in which I apply my improved castor to the legs of brass or
iron bedsteads, and any metallic furniture, or other metallic articles where my
improved castor as herein-before described is inapplicable, is as follows:-I
weld a collar to the bottom of the legs or uprights which support such metallic
articles, within which I turn or form in welding a circular groove similar to
the grooves shewn in Figures 3 and 6, putting a pin or spindle in the centre;
I then place the antifriction rollers in the groove, and attached thereto the
born C, see Figure 11, by passing the pin or spindle of the leg or upright
through the hole in the centre of the disc or plate forming the top of the
horn, Figure 11, and I then rivet or otherwise secure it underneath. I make
the hole in the top of the horn sufficiently large to allow the horn to revolve
freely round the spindle or pin, precisely in the same manner as in the socket
castor, Figure 1, and plate castor, Figure 4. Where the leg or upright of the
furniture or other article is hollow, I make a socket to fit the same, and rivet
or screw it to the upright or leg, or fix it in any other way that may be more
desirable.
Having described the nature of this Invention, and the manner in which it
is carried out, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not confine myself
to any particular metal in the construction of such castors, as they can be
made of any metal suitable for such purpose; nor do I confine myself to any
particular shape or form, as the same may be varied to suit any purpose for
which they may be intended or required without departing from the nature of
my Invention; but what I claim as my Invention, and desire to have protected

page_text: by Letters Patent is, the new or improved castor, as herein-before described
and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings, and the mode of applying the
same to brass or iron bedsteads, or other metallic furniture, or other articles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Fitter, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
G. B. HAINES,
Birmingham.
JOSEPH FITTER. (L.s.)