A universal wheel structure

Abstract

This utility model discloses a universal wheel structure, including an actuating plate, a housing, a base, a push rod, a locking plate, and a roller. The actuating plate includes a connecting part and an actuating part. The actuating plate moves along the edge of the housing via a first sliding groove and a first sliding block, and a second sliding groove and a second sliding block. The base is fitted inside the housing, and multiple balls are arranged around the periphery of the base. The upper ends of the balls abut against the inner surface of the housing, allowing the base to rotate relative to the housing. The locking plate is a rocker structure with a locking tooth at one end. An axle passes through the center of the roller, allowing the roller to be rotatably locked to the bottom surface of the base. Multiple slots are provided in the center of the roller. When the roller is fixed, the locking tooth engages in one of the slots to restrict the rotation of the roller. This universal wheel structure can be embedded in the bottom of furniture or a mobile platform, improving aesthetics and adaptability while facilitating operation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of accessories technology, specifically to a caster wheel structure installed on the bottom or legs of furniture. Background Technology

[0002] As a flexible and steerable mobile auxiliary structure, casters are widely used on the bottom of trolleys, carts, and various furniture (such as wardrobes, desks, storage cabinets, sofas, etc.). Their core value lies in significantly reducing the frictional resistance when moving items or furniture, helping users easily adjust the placement of items, and improving ease of use. They have become a common accessory in modern home and logistics handling scenarios.

[0003] Compared to functional applications like trolleys and wheelbarrows, furniture casters, which need to be integrated into the home environment for extended periods, bear the weight of the furniture itself, and frequently switch between "moving" and "fixed" states, place higher demands on the products. They must not only meet basic mobility requirements but also achieve higher standards in aesthetics, structural durability, and ease of operation. However, existing furniture casters still have significant shortcomings in these key aspects.

[0004] Firstly, they lack aesthetic appeal and are poorly compatible with home décor styles. In pursuit of structural simplicity, most existing furniture casters expose locking components (such as foot pedals and knob-type locks) directly on the outside of the housing. These components are often made of metallic raw materials or single plastic materials, with a rigid shape that clashes with the wood grain and minimalist design style of modern furniture, thus damaging the overall aesthetics of the furniture. Although some products attempt to hide the locking components, the hidden structure results in a narrow operating space, which in turn reduces the ease of use.

[0005] Secondly, the structural durability is poor, and it is prone to failure after long-term use: Furniture casters need to bear the weight of furniture (especially solid wood furniture, storage cabinets full of items, etc.) for a long time. Existing products have a key durability problem, namely, the core components of the locking mechanism (such as friction plates and springs) are not strong enough. After long-term wear, the locking force decreases, and the spring is prone to elastic fatigue after repeated deformation, resulting in locking failure. The furniture is prone to displacement under slight external force.

[0006] Furthermore, existing technologies lack operability and provide a poor user experience: the locking methods of existing furniture casters are still mainly "press-type" and "knob-type": both of these structures require a large amount of force to fix them. Whether fixing or unlocking, users need to press or rotate the knob forcefully to achieve the desired effect, which is inconvenient for users with less strength. Utility Model Content

[0007] To address this problem, this utility model proposes a universal wheel structure, including an actuating plate, a housing, a base, a push rod, a locking plate, and rollers. The actuating plate includes a connecting part and an actuating part. The connecting part is located above the housing, with a positioning hole at one end, and a first sliding groove, a second sliding groove, and a pushing area on the connecting part. A positioning post is provided near the edge of the housing, and the positioning hole of the connecting part fits onto the positioning post, allowing the actuating plate to move around the positioning post. A first slider and a second slider are respectively provided on the housing corresponding to the first and second sliding grooves. The actuating plate moves along the edge of the housing through the first sliding groove and the first slider, and the second sliding groove and the second slider. A pushing hole is also provided on the housing corresponding to the pushing area, and a push rod positioning block is provided on the inner surface of the housing. The base is fitted inside the housing, and a ball groove is provided on the periphery of the base, with multiple balls arranged in the ball groove. The upper ends of the balls abut against the inner surface of the housing. The base can rotate relative to the housing via ball bearings. The base also has push rod through holes that correspond to push holes. One end of the locking plate has a locking tooth, and the other end has a pressing part. Rotating shafts extend from both sides of the locking plate, allowing it to rotate on the bottom surface of the base. A torsion spring is fitted onto one side of the rotating shaft, with one end secured to the locking plate and the other end abutting against the base. The rotating shaft and torsion spring create a rocker-like structure for the locking plate. A push rod is positioned above the locking plate and fitted into a push rod positioning block. The push rod has a pushing end and a pressing end. The pushing end passes through the push rod through hole and push hole and abuts against the pushing area, while the pressing end abuts against the pressing part of the locking plate. A wheel axle passes through the center of the roller, allowing it to rotate and be secured to the bottom surface of the base. Multiple slots are located in the center of the roller. When the roller is fixed, the locking tooth engages in one of the slots to restrict the roller's rotation.

[0008] Furthermore, the push-up area includes a locking area and a release area, with a slope transition between the locking and release areas. The push-up end can selectively abut against the locking or release area by moving the toggle plate.

[0009] Furthermore, the release area protrudes downwards. When the top end of the push rod abuts against the release area, the push rod is pushed downwards to press the holding end against the holding part of the locking plate, causing the locking plate's locking teeth to disengage from the roller's slot.

[0010] Furthermore, the rollers include a first roller and a second roller.

[0011] Furthermore, a movable area is provided around the periphery of the housing. The actuating plate is movably limited to a first position and a second position within the movable area. When the actuating plate is in the first position, the roller is in a movable state, and when the actuating plate is in the second position, the roller is in a fixed state.

[0012] Furthermore, the actuating part is used to actuate the actuating plate, causing the actuating plate to move between the first position and the second position.

[0013] Furthermore, the toggle plate is Z-shaped, with the connecting part positioned above the housing and the toggle part near the bottom of the housing.

[0014] Therefore, the beneficial effects of this utility model are as follows: it can improve aesthetic adaptability and match home style. It adopts a hidden locking operation structure. Through the Z-shaped toggle plate design, the connecting part is set on the top of the shell. When installed at the bottom of the furniture, it is hidden inside the furniture. The toggle part is close to the bottom of the shell for easy operation, avoiding the rigid shape problem of traditional "step-type pedal" and "knob-type locking parts". At the same time, the overall structure has no extra exposed locking parts, which can be coordinated and integrated with various home styles such as modern minimalist, Chinese, and Nordic, without destroying the overall aesthetics of the furniture. In addition, the structure of this utility model does not conflict with the operating space. Compared with the problem of narrow operating space caused by the "hiding" of existing hidden locking structures, the position of the toggle part of the Z-shaped toggle plate in this solution is reasonable. It not only hides the parts, but also leaves enough hand operating space, taking into account both aesthetics and operation convenience. Meanwhile, the locking mechanism is more reliable: abandoning the traditional easily worn "friction plate locking", it adopts a physical engagement locking method of locking plate teeth and roller groove. After the teeth are embedded in the groove, the locking force is stable and there is no friction loss problem. At the same time, the locking plate forms a rocker structure with a rotating shaft and a torsion spring. One end of the torsion spring is fixed to the locking plate and the other end is supported by the base. Compared with ordinary springs, the fixing method of the torsion spring is more stable, which can avoid elastic fatigue caused by repeated deformation and ensure that the locking plate can still be reliably reset after long-term use, preventing locking failure.

[0015] The structure of this utility model can optimize the ease of operation, improve the user experience, and make the operation easier. Users only need to drive the mechanism by using the toggle part of the Z-shaped toggle plate. There is no need to overcome great resistance to rotate or press. The "moving-fixed" switching can be completed with one hand or foot. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 This is an exploded view of the universal wheel structure of this utility model.

[0017] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the toggle plate structure in this utility model.

[0018] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the shell structure in this utility model.

[0019] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the inner surface structure of the shell in this utility model.

[0020] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the toggle plate and the housing after assembly.

[0021] Figure 6 This is an exploded view of the lock plate and roller structure.

[0022] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram showing the assembly of the toggle plate, locking plate, and rollers.

[0023] Figure Labels

[0024] 1. Toggle plate

[0025] 11 Connecting parts

[0026] 12 Actuating Sections

[0027] 111 positioning hole

[0028] 112 First Slide

[0029] 113 Second Slide

[0030] 114 Top Push Area

[0031] 115 Locked Area

[0032] 116 De-escalation Zone

[0033] 117 bevel

[0034] 118 push rod positioning block

[0035] 2. Shell

[0036] 21 Positioning Posts

[0037] 211 push hole

[0038] 212 First slider

[0039] 213 Second slider

[0040] 22 activity areas

[0041] 221 First position

[0042] 222 Second Position

[0043] 3 bases

[0044] 31. Rolling ball groove

[0045] 32 ball bearings

[0046] 33 push rod through hole

[0047] 4. Push rod

[0048] 41. Top Push End

[0049] 42 pressure end

[0050] 5. Locking plate

[0051] 51. Clip teeth

[0052] 52 pressure support section

[0053] 53 Rotating Shaft

[0054] 6 rollers

[0055] 60 wheel axle

[0056] 61 First Roller

[0057] 62 Second Roller

[0058] 63 card slots Detailed Implementation

[0059] In the description of this utility model, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", etc., indicating the orientation or positional relationship are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing this utility model and simplifying the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the device or component referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation of this utility model.

[0060] In the description of this utility model, "multiple" means two or more, unless otherwise explicitly specified.

[0061] In the description of this utility model, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "installed," "equipped with," "sleeved / connected," "connected," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, "connection" can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; it can be a connection within two components. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this utility model based on the specific circumstances.

[0062] Please refer to Figures 1-7 This utility model proposes a universal wheel structure, including an actuating plate 1, a housing 2, a base 3, a push rod 4, a locking plate 5, and a roller 6. The actuating plate 1 includes a connecting part 11 and an actuating part 12. The connecting part 11 is disposed above the housing 2. One end of the connecting part 11 is provided with a positioning hole 111. A first sliding groove 112, a second sliding groove 113, and a pushing area 114 are provided on the connecting part 11. The pushing area 114 includes a locking area 115 and a releasing area 116. In this embodiment, the locking area 115 is an upwardly protruding area, and the releasing area 116 is a downwardly protruding area. There is an inclined surface 117 between the locking area 115 and the releasing area 116.

[0063] A positioning post 21 is provided near the edge of the housing 2. The positioning hole 111 of the connecting part 11 is fitted onto the positioning post 21, so that the actuating plate 1 moves along the edge of the housing 2 with the positioning post 21 as the center. A first slider 212 and a second slider 213 are respectively provided on the housing 2 corresponding to the first slide groove 112 and the second slide groove 113. The actuating plate 1 moves at the edge of the housing 2 through the first slide groove 112 and the first slider 212 and the second slide groove 113 and the second slider 213. An active area 22 is provided around the periphery of the housing 2. The actuating plate 1 is movably limited to the first position 221 and the second position 222 of the active area 22. When the actuating plate 1 is in the first position 221, the roller 6 is in an active state. When the actuating plate 1 is in the second position 222, the roller 6 is in a fixed state. The actuating part 12 is used to actuate the actuating plate 1, so that the actuating plate 1 moves between the first position 221 and the second position 222. In this embodiment, the toggle plate 1 is Z-shaped, with the connecting part 11 positioned above the housing 2 and the toggle part 12 positioned near the bottom of the housing 2. This facilitates user operation of the toggle plate 1 after installation, while also concealing the connecting part 11 inside the installed furniture.

[0064] The housing 2 is also provided with a push hole 211 corresponding to the push area 114; the base 3 is fitted inside the housing 2, and the periphery of the base 3 is provided with a ball groove 31, and a plurality of balls 32 are provided on the ball groove 31. The upper end of the balls 32 abuts against the inner surface of the housing 2, and the base 3 can rotate relative to the housing 2 through the balls 32. The base 3 is also provided with a push rod through hole 33, which corresponds to the push hole 211.

[0065] One end of the locking plate 5 is provided with a locking tooth 51, and the other end is provided with a pressing part 52. Rotating shafts 53 extend on both sides of the locking plate 5. The locking plate 5 is rotatably mounted on the bottom surface of the base 3 via the rotating shafts 53. A torsion spring 7 is sleeved on one side of the rotating shaft 53. One end of the torsion spring 7 is fixed to the locking plate 5, and the other end abuts against the base 3. Through the rotating shaft 53 and the torsion spring 7, the locking plate 5 forms a rocker structure.

[0066] Push rod 4 is positioned above locking plate 5 and fitted into push rod positioning block 118 inside housing 2. Push rod 4 has a pushing end 41 and a holding end 42. Push end 41 passes through push rod through hole 33 and pushing hole 211 and abuts against pushing area 114. Holding end 42 abuts against holding part 52 of locking plate 5. Push end 41 can be selectively abutted against locking area 115 or unlocking area 116 by moving toggle plate 1. When push end 41 of push rod 4 abuts against unlocking area 116, push rod 4 is pushed downward to press holding end 42 against holding part 52 of locking plate 5, causing locking plate 5's locking teeth 51 to disengage from roller 6's slot 63.

[0067] A roller 6 has an axle 60 passing through its center, which allows the roller 6 to be rotatably secured to the bottom surface of the base 3. The roller 6 has multiple slots 63 in its center. When the roller 6 is fixed, a locking tooth 51 engages in one of the slots 63 to restrict the rotation of the roller 6. In this embodiment, the roller 6 may include a first roller 61 and a second roller 62, with the slot 63 forming between the first roller 61 and the second roller 62.

[0068] The operating principle of this utility model is as follows: when the actuating part 12 of the actuating plate 1 is actuated to the first position 211, that is, when the roller 6 is in an active state, the pushing end 41 of the push rod 4 abuts against the release area 116 of the connecting part. The release area 116 is a downward protruding area, which pushes the push rod 4 downward. The pressing end 42 of the push rod 4 presses against the pressing part 52 of the locking plate 5. The locking plate 5 uses a rocker structure to make the locking plate 5's locking teeth 51 disengage from the central groove of the roller 6, so that the roller 6 can rotate freely. When the toggle plate is moved to the second position, i.e. the roller 6 is in a fixed state, the push end 41 of the push rod 4 is located in the locking area 115 of the connecting part 11. The locking area 115 is an upwardly protruding area. At this time, the spring force of the torsion spring 7 on the locking plate 5 causes the holding part 52 to push the holding end 42 of the push rod 4 upward, pushing the push rod 4 upward as a whole. Through the rocker structure of the locking plate 5 and the spring force of the torsion spring 7, the locking tooth 51 is embedded in the slot of the roller 6, thereby fixing the roller 6 and preventing the roller 6 from rotating.

[0069] When in use, the entire caster structure is embedded into the bottom or legs of the furniture or mobile platform through the housing. This allows most of the caster structure to be hidden in the bottom or legs, with only the wheels and part of the housing exposed, improving the aesthetics of the furniture and the applicability of the casters.

[0070] The foregoing has shown and described the basic principles, main features, and advantages of this utility model. Those skilled in the art should understand that this utility model is not limited to the above embodiments. The embodiments and descriptions in the specification are merely preferred examples and are not intended to limit the utility model. Various changes and modifications can be made to this utility model without departing from its spirit and scope, and all such changes and modifications fall within the scope of the claimed utility model. The scope of protection of this utility model is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A universal wheel structure, comprising an actuating plate, a housing, a base, a push rod, a locking plate, and rollers, characterized in that: The actuating plate includes a connecting part and an actuating part. The connecting part is disposed above the housing. One end of the connecting part is provided with a positioning hole, and a first sliding groove, a second sliding groove, and a pushing area are provided on the connecting part. A positioning post is provided near the edge of the housing. The positioning hole of the connecting part is sleeved on the positioning post, so that the actuating plate is displaced around the positioning post. A first slider and a second slider are respectively provided on the housing corresponding to the first slide groove and the second slide groove. The actuating plate moves along the edge of the housing through the first slide groove and the first slider and the second slide groove and the second slider. A push hole is also provided on the housing corresponding to the push area. A push rod positioning block is also provided on the inner surface of the housing. The base is fitted inside the housing. The periphery of the base is provided with ball grooves, and multiple balls are provided in the ball grooves. The upper ends of the balls abut against the inner surface of the housing. The balls allow the base to rotate relative to the housing. The base is also provided with push rod through holes, which correspond to the push hole. One end of the locking plate is provided with a locking tooth, and the other end is provided with a pressing part. Rotating shafts extend from both sides of the locking plate. The locking plate is rotatably mounted on the bottom surface of the base via the rotating shafts. A torsion spring is sleeved on one side of the rotating shaft. One end of the torsion spring is fixed to the locking plate, and the other end abuts against the base. Through the rotating shafts and the torsion spring, the locking plate forms a rocker structure. The push rod is disposed above the locking plate and fitted into the push rod positioning block. The push rod has a pushing end and a pressing end. The pushing end passes through the push rod through hole and the pushing hole and abuts against the pushing area. The pressing end abuts against the pressing part of the locking plate. The roller has an axle through its center, which allows the roller to be rotatably secured to the bottom surface of the base. The roller has multiple slots in its center, and when the roller is fixed, the locking teeth are embedded in one of the slots to restrict the rotation of the roller.

2. The universal wheel structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The pushing area includes a locking area and a releasing area, with a slope transition between the locking area and the releasing area. The pushing end is selectively abutted against the locking area or the releasing area by the movement of the toggle plate.

3. The universal wheel structure according to claim 2, characterized in that, The release area protrudes downwards. When the top end of the push rod abuts against the release area, the push rod is pushed downwards, causing the pressing end to press against the pressing part of the locking plate, so that the locking teeth of the locking plate disengage from the groove of the roller.

4. The universal wheel structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The rollers include a first roller and a second roller.

5. The universal wheel structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The periphery of the housing is provided with an active area. The actuating plate is movably limited to a first position and a second position in the active area. When the actuating plate is in the first position, the roller is in an active state. When the actuating plate is in the second position, the roller is in a fixed state.

6. The universal wheel structure according to claim 5, characterized in that, The actuating part is used to actuate the actuating plate, so that the actuating plate moves between a first position and a second position.

7. A universal wheel structure according to claim 6, characterized in that, The actuating plate is Z-shaped, with the connecting part positioned above the housing and the actuating part located near the bottom of the housing.

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