1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to caster platforms for moving large and heavy objects, and more specifically, to an improved caster assembly for placement into caster platforms.
2. Description of the Background Art
Industrial caster platforms are in use in many industries where large, heavy, loads must be moved around a work area. For example, caster platforms have been in use in large cargo aircraft for a number of years in the form of "roll-on", "roll-off" designs, wherein the individual caster wheels are fixed to the platform and do not rotate or move. This type of caster platform is useful in aircraft because the heavy loads merely have to be moved in a straight line into, or out of, the confined space of an aircraft fuselage.
However, for industrial settings, such as in a factor or trucking company, caster platforms must have the ability to move a large load across a wide factory or warehouse floor. To these ends, it is necessary for the individual caster assemblies to be able to rotate, and thereby rotate with the force applied to a load as it moves. In this manner, the load can be moved straight, rotated 360 degrees, or moved diagonally across the caster platform, to a desired destination on a warehouse, or factory floor.
A typical rotatable caster assembly has a rotatable, circular platform, with a pair of offset extension members, between which is mounted a caster wheel. An example of this typical caster structure is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,697 issued to Berndt. It has been found that when this type of caster design is used in heavy-duty industrial caster platforms, that the extension members often fatigue, and break, upon being repeatedly contacted by heavy loads. The result is that traffic traveling over the caster platform must be halted, while the broken casters are replaced.
Additionally, concurrent with their design, caster assemblies in present use rotate within a radius defined by the outermost surface of the caster wheel. In practice, this means that the caster assembly rotates within a "cup-like" cavity present within the caster platform. This cavity presents a safety hazard as the areas not occupied by the caster wheel, or extension members, represents open space, in which a worker can inadvertently step, and injure himself.
Therefore, it would additionally be desirable for a caster assembly to have a design wherein any open spaces present in these cavities are covered, thereby significantly reducing the possibility of injury to a worker.
The present invention has solved the foregoing deficiencies by providing a caster assembly for caster platforms which eliminates the use of extension members seen typical caster designs, and which furthermore, incorporates a safety lid which helps protect a worker from accidents on the caster platform.
The foregoing patent and other information reflects the state of the art of which the inventor is aware, and is tendered with a view toward discharging the inventor's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information which may be pertinent with regards to the patentability of the present invention. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the disclosed patent and other information does not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor's claimed invention.