JP2002059843A - Vehicle provided with swivel casters - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle such as a hand truck or the like, provided with swivel casters freely and eccentrically swivelable but, capable of making the vehicle go up and down the stairs in a state where it travels straight forward and backward. SOLUTION: A swivel caster 5 is comprised of a bracket 3 having a wheel 1 rotatably attached thereto and a main body 4 having the bracket 3 attached thereto in such a manner that the bracket 3 crosses with an axle 2 of the wheel 1 at right angles and can eccentrically rotate with a predetermined eccentric amount (d). The main body 4 at a location of an opposite direction of a traveling direction of a hand truck 7 is attached to a vehicle body 8 in such a manner than an eccentric axis center C1 of the bracket 3 is oblique against a vertical line V1 of the vehicle body 8 to enable the vehicle body 8 to travel directionally stably. And the vehicle body 8 is provided with a rear support wheel 13 capable of contacting the ground under a condition of lifting a front end side in a traveling direction of the vehicle body 8 at a rear end side in the traveling direction of the vehicle body in such a manner that the rear support wheel 13 can be displaced backward against an energizing force of a spring 17.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle in which a free caster is mounted on the back of a vehicle including various types of vehicles including a bogie including a manual drive and a power drive, a wheelchair, a stroller, and a work vehicle having an arbitrary shape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the case of a vehicle, for example, a trolley for carrying luggage by pushing a steering wheel, for example, all four wheels attached to the back of the body of the trolley are free casters, or only wheels in front of the trolley are provided. Is a free caster, and the rear wheels are fixed wheels, or only the rear wheels of the bogie are free wheels, and the front wheels are fixed wheels.

[0003]

First, in the case where all four wheels attached to the trolley are free casters, the trolley can be moved forward, backward, left and right, and at the same time, even if the handle is pushed straight, depending on the condition of the ground contact surface. Has a drawback in that it is extremely difficult and difficult to move the bogie straight forward due to the lateral force acting on the wheels of the universal caster. However, in order to ensure the straightness of the bogie when the handle is pushed, only the front wheels of the bogie are free casters, and fixed casters are attached to the rear wheels. While it can be pushed straight, when turning the bogie, only the left and right sides of the handle must be pushed to apply a lateral force to the free caster at the front position of the bogie away from the handle. Unless a considerable force is applied to the steering wheel, the front wheel cannot be swung right and left, which is not suitable for carrying heavy objects, and has the drawback that the truck cannot be moved laterally. Therefore, in order to make it easy to change the direction of the cart when carrying heavy objects, the front of the cart is fixed wheels and the rear wheel is a free caster. In this case, both the handle and the free caster are at the rear position of the cart. Therefore, the force in the left and right direction on the handle is transmitted to the free caster as it is, and it is easy to change the direction of the bogie when carrying heavy loads, but it is difficult for the rear wheels to push the bogie straight because the rear wheels are free casters, Although pulling the trolley ensures straightness, pulling the trolley to move it is difficult, and the trolley cannot be moved laterally because it uses fixed wheels. ,
There is a drawback in that it is difficult and requires skill to move the trolley in a place full of objects, and moreover, there is a drawback that the trolley cannot climb up steps or go up and down stairs. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to attach a universal caster that can secure straightness in both forward and backward movements, and
It is to provide a vehicle that can go up and down stairs.

[0004]

That is, according to the present invention, when the universal caster is mounted on the rear surface of the vehicle body, the eccentric axis of the universal caster moves rearward in the traveling direction of the vehicle body with respect to the vertical line of the vehicle body. Mounted diagonally for stable driving in the direction,
In addition, there is a vehicle in which a free caster is mounted on a rear end side in a traveling direction of a vehicle body, in which a rear auxiliary wheel that can be grounded while being lifted in a front end side in a traveling direction of the vehicle body is displaced rearward against the urging force of a spring.

[0005]

As described above, two free casters having the eccentric shaft center of the bracket obliquely attached to the vertical line of the main body are provided on the rear surface of the rectangular vehicle body with different inclinations in the front and rear ends with respect to the rear side in the traveling direction. For example, in the case of a bogie that is pushed by a handle of a vehicle having a total of four attached vehicles, when the handle is pushed to move the bogie forward, the wheel positions of the brackets are directed to the rear of the bogie. In this forward state, the right and left eccentric rotational force acts on the wheels depending on the state of the ground contact surface,
When the rear free caster of the bogie rotates eccentrically, the vehicle body is lifted in accordance with the inclination angle of the bracket eccentric axis. As a result, when an eccentric rotational force in the left-right direction acts on the wheels in the forward state, a returning force corresponding to the weight of the bogie, that is, a restoring force acts on each wheel of the rear caster of the bogie, Of the vehicle in the forward direction is ensured.
Next, when the bogie is moved backward from this forward state, a restoring force similar to that at the time of the forward movement acts on the rear caster in the advancing direction, and the rectilinearity of the bogie in the backward direction is secured. Although the bogie's traveling-side free caster is in an unstable traveling posture even when the vehicle is moving forward and backward, the bogie's straightness is sufficient because the bogie's anti-progression-side free caster is in a traveling stable posture almost equivalent to the fixed caster. Is secured. Next, in response to the direction change of the bogie, when an external force in the left-right direction is applied to each of the front and rear swivel casters via the handle, each swivel caster receives a return force corresponding to the weight of the entire bogie including the transported luggage. Eccentric rotation. As a result, the trolley can easily and easily change its direction of travel by the eccentric rotation of the front and rear adjustable casters corresponding to handle separation, and when the handle is pushed straight, the restoring force is applied to each of the adjustable casters in the opposite direction of travel of the trolley. Is actuated to return the vehicle to the original forward posture, and the bogie can easily and easily move forward without swaying while maintaining straightness. In addition, the front wheel is a fixed caster, and the rear wheel is a free caster in which the eccentric shaft is inclined rearward.Even if it is easy to change the direction of the bogie in a heavy transport state, it is possible to secure the forward straightness of the bogie. it can. or,
A rear auxiliary wheel that can touch the ground in a state where the front end of the vehicle body is lifted is attached to the rear end side of the vehicle body in the traveling direction so that it can be displaced rearward against the urging force of the spring. Even if the vehicle body is moved forward with the front end of the vehicle body raised with the wheels as a fulcrum, the rear auxiliary wheels do not hit the stairs and hinder the vehicle from moving forward.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
It will be explained by. As shown in the figure, a bracket 3 on which a wheel 1 is rotatably mounted via a shaft 2 is provided with a thrust bearing (not shown) which is rotatable at a predetermined eccentric amount d orthogonal to the shaft 2 of the wheel 1 so as to be rotatable. It is rotatably mounted on a circular projection formed at the center of the rectangular plate-shaped main body 4 via a shaft, and the free caster 5 is formed in this mounted state. Next, the main body 4 of the swivel caster 5 thus formed is attached to the inclined attachment surfaces 9 and 10 formed at the front and rear end positions of the rear surface of the vehicle body 8 of the handle 6 operating cart 7 via bolts not shown. In the mounted state, each of the swivel casters 5 has its eccentric axis C1
Is mounted at an angle of S1 angle with respect to the vertical line V1 of the cart 7. In addition, the rear part and the center part of the vehicle body 8 respectively have a step 11 as shown in FIG.
The rear auxiliary wheel 13 and the central auxiliary wheel 14 corresponding to the stairs 12 going up and down shown in FIG. In this case, the rear auxiliary wheel 13 rotates via a shaft 19 to a rear auxiliary bracket 18 that is rotatable rearward of the vehicle body 8 against a biasing force of a spring 17 around a support shaft 16 of the handle 6 of the handle bracket 15. Mounted as possible.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The handle 6 of the cart 7 formed in this manner
When the cart 7 is pushed forward to move the cart 7 forward, the position of the wheel 1 of the bracket 3 of the front-rear movable caster 5 is directed to the rear of the cart 7. In this forward state, the wheels 1
Although the eccentric rotational force in the left-right direction acts on the vehicle, the body 8 of the bogie 7 is lifted in accordance with the inclination angle of the eccentric axis C1 of the bracket 3 when the rear free caster 5 rotates eccentrically. As a result, when an eccentric rotational force in the left-right direction acts on the wheel 1 of the rear free caster 5 in the forward state, a returning force, that is, a restoring force acts on the wheel 1 according to the weight of the carriage 7 and the load. That is, the straightness of the carriage 7 in the forward direction is ensured. Next, when an external force in the left-right direction is applied to each of the front and rear adjustable casters 5 via the handle 6 in response to the direction change of the cart 7, each of the adjustable casters 5 corresponds to the weight of the entire cart 7 including the transported luggage. The return force, ie
It rotates eccentrically while receiving restoring force. As a result, the carriage 7 can easily and easily change its traveling direction by the eccentric rotation of the front and rear adjustable casters 5 corresponding to the handle 6 separation, and when the handle 6 is pushed straight, the carriage 7
The restoring force acts on the anti-advancing direction adjustable caster 5 to return to the original forward posture, and the bogie 7 can easily or easily move forward or backward while maintaining straightness without swaying. When the main body 4 of each swivel caster 5 is changed to a bar-shaped body and the bar-shaped body of the universal caster is inserted into a pipe or a hole and attached, the axis of the bar-shaped body and the eccentric axis of the bracket with the wheels are set from the beginning. In the case of a conventional swivel caster in which the axis of the rod-shaped body and the eccentric axis of the bracket with wheels are aligned, a pipe or a plate with a hole attached to the swivel caster can be tilted. Can be formed by inclining from the beginning. In this case, since the auxiliary wheels 13 and 14 are attached to the rear portion and the center portion of the vehicle body 8, for example, when climbing the step 11 shown in FIG. When the handle 6 is tilted forward with the wheel 1 of the free caster 5 positioned at the front position, the truck 7 in the loaded state can be easily lifted by the principle of leverage as much as the wheel 1 moves forward. . Depending on the height of the step 11, the rear auxiliary wheel 13 is grounded and the vehicle 7 is supported and the vehicle 7 is moved forward with the center auxiliary wheel 14 mounted on the step 11, depending on the height of the step 11, so that the carriage 7 It is possible to easily move onto the step 11 by leverage principle as shown in FIG. Next, FIG. 3 shows a state in which the carriage 7 moves up and down the stairs 12. In this case, the carriage 7 is moved in a state where the wheels 1 of the rear adjustable casters 5 are placed on the corners of the stairs 12 (the state in FIG. 3). When the vehicle is advanced, although the rear auxiliary wheel 13 is in the way, the rear auxiliary wheel 13 can rotate around the support shaft 16 toward the rear of the vehicle body 8 against the urging force of the spring 17 (two-dot chain line in the figure). State), rear auxiliary wheel 13
The trolley 7 can be moved forward in response to the ascending of the stairs 12 without obstruction. In addition, by making each free caster 5 a swivel lockable free caster in a two-dot chain line state in the drawing, the bogie 7 can be moved up and down sufficiently in response to a change in the width of the stairs 12.

[0008]

As a result, while the present invention is a free caster that can be freely eccentrically rotated, the present invention has a straight traveling property in the forward and backward movement of a vehicle such as a bogie equipped with a free caster and a vehicular car without a handle. In addition to this, there is an effect that the stairs can be moved up and down.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a carriage 7 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the bogie 7 showing a state in which the step 11 is climbed according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cart 7 showing a stairs 12 ascending and descending state according to the present embodiment.
FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wheel 2 axis 3 Bracket 4 Main body 5 Swivel caster 6 Handle 7 Truck 8 Body 9 Inclined mounting surface 10 Inclined mounting surface 11 Step 12 Stairs 13 Rear auxiliary wheel 14 Central auxiliary wheel 15 Handle bracket 16 Support shaft 17 Spring 18 Rear auxiliary bracket 19 axes

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) B62B 5/02 B62B 5/02 E

Claims (1)

[Claims] When the universal caster is mounted on the rear surface of the vehicle body, the eccentric axis of the universal caster is mounted obliquely with respect to the vertical line of the vehicle body so that the rear end side in the traveling direction of the vehicle body can travel stably in the traveling direction of the vehicle body, and A vehicle equipped with a swivel caster, wherein a rear auxiliary wheel capable of contacting the ground while being lifted at a front end side in a traveling direction of the vehicle body is displaceably rearwardly opposed to a biasing force of a spring at a rear end side in the traveling direction of the vehicle body. .