IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTORS FOR FITTING UNDER THE FEET OF TABLES, SEATS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PIECES OP HOUSEHOLD GOODS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Morel, of the Town of Gap, in the Empire
of France, Mechanician, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CASTORS
FOR FITTING UNDER THE FEET OF TABLES, SEATS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PIECES OP
HOUSEHOLD GOODS."
Sealed the 26th June 1857, and dated the 27th December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Morel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th December 1856.
I, JOSEPH MOREL, of the Town of Gap, in the Empire of France, Mecha-
nician, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CASTORS FOR FITTING UNDER THE FEET OF TABLES, SEATS, AND OTHER SIMILAR
PIECES OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS," to be as follows:-
My improved castors are represented in the accompanying Drawing. The
chief feature of my improvements is making the castor to roll freely in all
directions. For that purpose I set a spheroidal rolling piece in a shell, within
which it is loose and can roll in any direction.
Fig. 1 shows one arrangement of my improved castor, fitted under the foot
A of a table or seat. The shell or case B is fastened to the foot A by
means of a wood screw; the rolling piece C is retained within the case B by
reason of its covering the greater portion of the circumference of the metal
ball C. The case B is made in two pieces, which are screwed together at
a, b, to allow the ball C to be placed therein.
Fig. 2 shows another arrangement of the improved castor, in which the
part B is fitted to a small wheel or disc of metal E; this turns freely on the

page_text: pin I, which is screwed into the foot A, and retains the ferrule D by means of
an internal washer. With this arrangement a cylindrical roller may be used
instead of the ball C. The roller is secured to a pin i, on which it rotates
freely.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Morel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
MOREL, of the Town of Gap, in the Empire of France, Mechanician, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Morel, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Morel, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Morel,
my executors, 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 FOR FITTING UNDER
THE FEET OF TABLES, SEATS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PIECES OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Morel, 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 Morel, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be. per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement.:
My improved castors to be attached to household furniture are more solid
and substantial, and run.more freely, than those at present in use.
The Drawings: annexed hereto illustrate my Invention.
C represents the roller or wheel, made of any suitable material, such as

page_text: metal, horn, hardened india-rubber or vulcanite. A small metallic cylinder
passes through the roller, in which is inserted an axle pin, taking into the sides
of and turning freely in a spherical hollow ball or globe B, which latter is
made fast to a disc D by rivets. A pin I in the centre of the disc D, rivetted
into it, is let in the centre of the leg A of the table or other article of furniture,
and an iron washer applied under the leg A, between a shoulder of the pin I
and a boss of the disc D, allows the latter to revolve freely around the central
pin.
Figure 1 is a front view of the lower part of the leg of a table or seat;
Figure 2 is a vertical section of the centre of the leg, with the ball turned
sideways; Figure 3 is a cross vertical section of the ball, the disc being
removed; Figure 4 shows a castor, in which the disc D is made fast on the
pin I by screwing, and the lower end i of the same pin enters into the side of
the top of the ball B, where it is kept from running out by a peg running in
a neck formed in the collar i. To allow of its free turning in all directions,
the hole on the top of the ball B for the collar i is not in the centre, and the
axle pin is not in the centre of the ball. The pin or screw I is made as the
ordinary wooden screw, and screwed into the leg of the table or seat. If
the roller C be made of a globular form, the ball B should be made of two
pieces, screwed fast together, to prevent the roller from getting out, and the
roller should be loose, not turning on an axle pin.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, I wish it to be
understood I do not claim the parts described and shown when taken sepa-
rately, but what I claim is, the manufacture of castors, substantially con-
structed, as herein-before described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Morel, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
0 Signed and sealed in the presence
of
L. D'AUBRÉVILLE,
Civil Engineer,
36, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris.
JH. MUREL.
(L.S.)