Swivel lock and brake mechanism for casters
AssigneeBliss & Laughlin Industries Incorporated
InventorsHerbert E. Collignon, Robert H. Godwin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A caster assembly is provided with a housing readily mountable into rectangular, square or round tubing and securable therein. A lever operable in a horizontal plane about the swivel axis is pivotable from a first position for free swiveling and rolling of the caster, to a second position for swivel locking in the trailing position, to a third position for swivel and wheel locking. It is readily attached to a centralized control handle on a bed or other object to be supported by the caster.
Claims17
In a caster assembly including mounting means for mounting a load to the caster assembly, a horn swivel mounted to said mounting means to swivel about a swivel axis, and a wheel rotatably mounted to said horn, whereby said caster assembly is adapted to support a load and swivel to facilitate rolling the load horizontally in various directions, there being a relative position of said horn to said mounting means and referred to as a tracking position for obtaining a tracking direction of rolling the load, the improvement comprising:
- a brake shoe coupled to said mounting means and movable from an "off" position to a "wheel lock" position wherein said brake shoe engages said wheel to prevent rotation of said wheel;
- actuator means coupled between said mounting means and said brake shoe and operable to move said brake shoe to said "wheel lock" position;
- and
- a swivel lock including a tracking tab supported on said mounting means, and a tab receiver in said horn, said tab and receiver being aligned when said horn and mounting means are in said tracking position,
- said tab being movable from a swivel release position to a swivel lock position where a portion of said tab is received in said receiver and locks said horn and said mounting means in said tracking position,
- said actuator means including a portion operable about said swivel axis to move said tab between said swivel lock and swivel release position.
In patient care equipment items, the improvement comprising:
- a hospital bed having four legs, at least two legs on one side being tubular, and casters on all four legs, two of said casters having mounting means thereon with mounting posts on said mounting means non-rotatably received in said two legs,
- each of said two casters having a horn swivel mounted to said mounting means to swivel about a swivel axis, and a wheel rotatably mounted to said horn, whereby said caster is adapted to support a load and swivel to facilitate rolling the load horizontally in various directions, there being a relative position of said horn to said mounting means and referred to as a tracking position for obtaining a tracking direction of rolling the load;
- each of said two casters further comprising:
- a brake shoe coupled to said mounting means and movable from an "off" position to a "wheel lock" position wherein said brake shoe engages said wheel to prevent rotation of said wheel;
- actuator means coupled between said mounting means and said brake shoe and operable to move said brake shoe to said "wheel lock" position;
- and
- a swivel lock including a tracking tab supported on said mounting means, and a tab receiver in said horn, said tab and receiver being aligned when said horn and mounting means are in said tracking position,
- said tab being movable from a swivel release position to a swivel lock position where a portion of said tab is received in said receiver and locks said horn and said mounting means in said tracking position,
- said actuator means including a portion operable about said swivel axis to move said tab between said swivel lock and swivel release position,
- said actuator means portion including a ring centered on a swivel axis and movable about said axis between three discrete positions of rotational index, namely:
- position "A" for free wheel and swivel;
- position "B" for free wheel swivel lock in tracking position;
- and position "C" for swivel lock and wheel lock;
- said brake shoe being circular and concentric with said ring, and said ring having brake cam means thereon engaged with said brake shoe for driving said brake shoe from "off" position to "wheel lock" position when said ring is moved to position "C";
- a resilient circumferential tread member on said wheel;
- a plurality of circularly spaced protrusions on the bottom of said brake shoe, some portion of said protrusions being engagable with said tread member when said brake shoe is in "wheel lock" position, regardless of the position of said wheel about said swivel axis;
- a lever arm on said ring of each of two said casters;
- a control arm on said hospital bed;
- a horizontally extending link connected to said lever arm of each of said two casters and to said control arm;
- and
- a manual operator connected to said control arm and operable about a vertical axis parallel to said swivel axis, through three manual control positions to selectively place said rings of said two casters in positions "A", "B" and "C", whereby both of said casters are simultaneously controlled by said manual operator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.