Superior Tire & Rubber Corporation

Timothy W Rowles

Henri E LeMeur, Jr

Philip M Downey

Charles Embrey

Shawn M Beltz

Gregory W Blair

A spring-force-adjustable and height-adjustable industrial caster wheel includes spring assembly, a mounting plate, a swivel assembly that swivels relative to the mounting plate, and a spring housing having a spring space in which the spring assembly is located. The spring force of the spring assembly is adjustable by pre-loading the spring assembly along the top-to-bottom direction along which the caster load is applied. The spring assembly includes a spring member having one or more relief areas on one or more of its side and/or end surfaces and/or internally within the spring member. These one or more relief areas allow the spring member to easily deform under the pre-load force or under increasing caster load forces without compromising the ability of the spring space to constrain lateral movements of the spring assembly or the ability of the spring member to deform elastically and/or avoid undergoing plastic deformations.

Spring member for industrial caster wheel

A height-adjustable industrial caster wheel includes a mounting plate, a swivel assembly that swivels relative to the mounting plate, and a spring housing that is movable relative to the swivel assembly. The mounting plate or the spring housing is secured to the swivel assembly, such that the relative position of the swivel assembly and either the mounting plate or the spring housing can be controllably altered to change the overall height of the height-adjustable industrial caster wheel. If needed, a locking mechanism can be used to maintain the relative position between the swivel assembly and the mounting plate or the spring housing. The height-adjustable industrial caster wheel can be adjusted by accessing the height-adjustable industrial caster wheel from above, eliminating the need to raise the pallet truck away from the floor to be able to access and adjust the height-adjustable industrial caster wheel.

Top-accessible, height-adjustable industrial caster wheel

A transition sleeve is inserted into a transition tube of a vacuum system of a vacuum sweeper. The transition sleeve extends the useful life of the transition tube by sacrificially wearing instead of the transition tube. Such wear arises from abrasive grit and other materials swept up by the vacuum sweeper. The transition sleeve is desirably formed using wear-resistant materials. The transition sleeve can include a flange at one end to allow the transition sleeve to be held in the transition tube without using fasteners or bonding agents. A first portion of an interconnection structure is provided at the other end of the transition sleeve and engages with a second portion of the interconnection structure provided at a first end of an extension sleeve to connect the extension sleeve to the transition sleeve. The extension sleeve allows the transition sleeve to be used with transition tubes of varying lengths.

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Youngsville, PA, United States of America

Timothy W Rowles