Anti wobbling castor support for a wheel
AssigneeCNH Industrial America LLC
InventorsMatthew R. Sudbrink, Dean A. Knobloch
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A castor wheel support for a towed agricultural implement. The castor support has a spindle for supporting a castor mounting structure for pivoting movement. The castor mounting structure includes an annular friction element received over the spindle and a plurality of C-shaped shims removable laterally without disassembly of the mounting structure to allow the pressure on the friction element to be set to minimize wobbling.
Claims17
A castor support assembly for a wheel, the support assembly comprising:
- a base;
- a spindle extending downward from the base;
- a castor mounting structure having a bore received over the spindle to permit pivoting movement about the spindle, and an axle operably connected to a portion of the castor mounting structure for rotatably mounting a wheel;
- a thrust bearing positioned on the spindle between the base and the caster mounting structure;
- a removable disk secured to an end of the spindle;
- an annular friction element received over the spindle between the castor mounting structure and the removable disk, the annular friction element having an inner circumference larger than an outer diameter of the spindle;
- and,
- a plurality of shims, each shim of the plurality of shims of predetermined thickness, each shim having an outer circumference configured to fit within the inner circumference of the annular friction element, each shim having an inner circumference configured to fit around the outer diameter of the spindle;
- wherein each shim of the plurality of shims is positioned on the spindle via a slot recess in each shim and each shim of the plurality of shims is positioned within the inner diameter of the annular friction element to control compression of the annular friction element and to inhibit oscillation of the castor support assembly.
An agricultural implement for towed movement in a forward direction over a field, the implement comprising:
- a frame extending laterally relative to the direction of movement;
- a base;
- an articulated structural interconnection between the base and the frame;
- a spindle extending downward from the base;
- a castor mounting structure having a bore received over the spindle to permit pivoting movement about the spindle, and an axle operably connected to at least a portion of the castor mounting structure for rotatably mounting a wheel;
- the wheel mounted for rotation on the axle;
- a thrust bearing on the spindle between the base and the castor mounting structure;
- a removable disk secured to an end of the spindle;
- an annular friction element received over the spindle between the castor mounting structure and the removable disk;
- the annular friction element having an inner circumference larger than an outer diameter of the spindle;
- and,
- a plurality of shims, each shim of the plurality of shims of predetermined thickness, each shim having an outer circumference configured to fit within the inner circumference of the annular friction element, each shim having an inner circumference configured to fit around the outer diameter of the spindle;
- wherein each shim of the plurality of shims is positioned on the spindle via a slot recess in each shim and each shim of the plurality of shims is positioned within the inner diameter of the annular friction element to control compression of the annular friction element and to inhibit oscillation of the castor support assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.