Two-Piece Furniture Castor Assembly for Cleanable Secure Mounting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current castors for furniture are difficult to assemble and mount, despite being designed to minimize dust traps and facilitate disinfectant cleaning without damaging components, and there is a lack of structures that achieve these objectives simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
A castor design comprising two single-piece units that form the wheel and swivel casings, secured together with a rotary shaft and fastening means, allowing for easy assembly and secure mounting on furniture, while incorporating blocking mechanisms for rotation and pivoting, and featuring conductive materials for static electricity grounding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If castors are designed with integrated wheel and swivel casings to minimize dust traps and facilitate cleaning, then cleaning accessibility and dust prevention are improved, but assembly complexity and mounting difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The castor is divided into two separate single-piece units: a wheel casing unit and a swivel casing unit. Each unit is molded as a single piece to eliminate internal dust traps, while the modular segmentation allows independent assembly of each unit, simplifying the overall assembly process compared to integrated designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The two separate units are associated together through complementary engagement features where the first and third portions engage to form the wheel casing, and the second and fourth portions engage to form the swivel casing, creating a unified structure that functions as a complete castor assembly.
2Manufacturing precision
If castors use integrated single-piece structures for wheel and swivel casings, then manufacturing precision and structural integrity are improved, but ease of manufacture and assembly are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The structure is segmented into two single-piece molded units, each with high structural integrity within itself. The segmentation allows each unit to be manufactured independently with precise molding, avoiding the complexity of molding a single integrated structure while maintaining the benefits of single-piece construction for each component.
Solution Approach 2:
Each unit is pre-formed as a complete single-piece structure with all its functional features (wheel mounting, swivel mechanism, fastening elements) already integrated during the molding process. This preliminary formation of complete functional units simplifies the final assembly step, as no further structural fabrication is needed during assembly.
Data Source
AI summary
A plurality of castors for a piece of furniture, each castor including a casing, two wheels, and fastener elements for fastening to the piece of furniture. The casing is made up of two units, each made as a single piece, the first unit including a portion constituted by a portion of the wheel casing and a portion constituted by a portion of the swivel casing, the second unit including a portion constituted by another portion of the wheel casing and a portion constituted by another portion of the swivel casing. The two units are adapted to be associated with each other to form the casing in such a manner that the portions of the first unit and the portions of the second unit engage respectively one in the other, and elements are provided for securing the two units together.