Corner bearing assembly for platform scale
AssigneeTricolor Corporation
InventorsStan B. Hanssen, James R. Hanssen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A corner bearing assembly for a platform scale of the bathroom variety in which a formed sheet metal bearing has a knife edge to rest on a scale lever and a point or line contact with the cover platform with looseness sufficient to allow the bearing assembly to pivot enough during use to retain proper contact with both cover and scale levers. The bearing assembly is provided with a hanger connection to the cover capable of hand-assembly into a loose generally proper position so that upon physical assembly of the cover onto the base the bearing assemblies in all four corners of the scale automatically seat themselves properly both as to the cover and the scale levers.
Claims9
In a platform-type scale comprising a base, a plurality of counterbalanced levers supported on the base, a weight-sensing mechanism operatively engaged with and responsive to movement of the levers, a cover with an upper platform mating with and shiftable vertically relative to said base, said cover depressing under an applied weight to pivot the levers which in turn actuate the weight-sensing mechanism to indicate the magnitude of the applied weight, the improvement comprising a floating corner bearing assembly associated with the cover for distributing a force imparted on said cover to said levers, said corner bearing assembly comprising:
- a downwardly facing dimple formed integrally with said platform adjacent the end of each said lever, each said dimple having tapered walls extending away from an apex;
- a bearing member having a rounded nose disposed within said dimple and a downwardly facing knife edge disposed transversely of the longitudinal extent of and engageable with said levers, said rounded nose being guided by said tapered walls consistently into alignment with said apex;
- at least one arm extending from said bearing member;
- and
- means associated with said cover and loosely engaging said arm and retaining said bearing member upon said cover in a generally upright position relative to the cover platform and said nose within said dimple for floating movement of said bearing member relative to said cover such that said knife edge aligns relative to said levers under an unevenly applied weight on said cover to afford accurate weight readings, said engaging means providing non-binding support of the assembly to the cover.
In a platform-type scale comprising a base, a plurality of counterbalanced levers supported on the base, a weight-sensing mechanism operatively engaged with and responsive to movement of the levers, a cover with an upper platform mating with and shiftable vertically relative to said base, said cover depressing under an applied weight to pivot the levers which in turn actuate the weight-sensing mechanism to indicate the magnitude of the applied weight, the improvement comprising a floating corner bearing assembly associated with the cover for distributing force imparted on said cover evenly over said levers, said corner bearing assembly comprising:
- an annular depression within said platform and defining a downwardly facing dimple having tapered walls extending away from an apex and a substantially horizontal, annular bottom edge;
- a bearing member having a rounded nose disposed within said dimple and upwardly facing first and second edges extending away from said rounded nose sufficiently to span the radius of said bottom edge and a downwardly facing knife edge seating upon and transverse to said levers, said nose being guided by said tapered walls to a point adjacent said apex;
- at least one arm extending from said bearing member;
- and
- means loosely engaging said arm and floatingly retaining said bearing member upon said cover for floating movement of said bearing member about said rounded nose and relative to said cover, said first and second edges abutting said annular bottom edge with said member tilted from a vertical position, said floating movement assuring alignment of said knife edge with said levers in the event an uneven load is applied to the cover.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.