A rail-based floor conveyor system, with a floor conveyor with concavely grooved wheels and rails having a surface which, when in contact, dips at least partially into the grooved area of the wheels, thereby producing at least two load-bearing lines during the movement of the floor conveyor, wherein a wheel holder is provided for each wheel, with at least one horizontal axis of rotation for each wheel and a vertical axis of rotation to a bearing connected to the floor conveyor, and wherein the wheels can be moved by drives or manually on the rail, bearing including a first bearing part and a second bearing part, wherein one of the bearing parts has a concave surface section, which is at least partially in contact with a convex surface section of the respective other bearing part, and wherein both bearing parts are movable relative to one another while maintaining contact.

A patient transport apparatus transports a patient over a floor surface. The patient transport apparatus comprises a support structure and support wheels coupled to the support structure. An auxiliary wheel is coupled to the support frame to influence motion of the patient transport apparatus over a floor surface. The auxiliary wheel is movable to a deployed position with the auxiliary wheel engaging the floor surface and a stowed position with the auxiliary wheel spaced a distance from the floor surface. An actuator assembly including a lift actuator a biasing device, and a biasing load adjustment assembly. The lift actuator is operable to move the auxiliary wheel to the deployed position and to the stowed position. The biasing device configured to bias the auxiliary wheel towards the deployed position. The biasing load adjustment assembly configured to adjust a biasing force being applied by the biasing device to the auxiliary wheel.

A robot includes a robot frame having a bottom plate; and at least one wheel module mounted to the bottom plate. The wheel module includes a front hinge mounted to the bottom plate; a rear hinge mounted to the bottom plate and having a pin guide formed therein; a link motor arm rotatably connected to the front hinge by a first hinge shaft; a front caster provided in the link motor arm; an in-wheel motor including a motor connected to the link motor arm and a driving wheel rotated by the motor; a link back arm rotatably connected to the link motor arm by a second hinge shaft; a guide pin provided in the link back arm and slidingly guided along the pin guide; and a rear caster provided in the link back arm.

A castor suspension system for suspending a first castor at a patient support device is provided. The castor suspension system comprises a pivoting suspension link pivotably attachable to the patient support device, and a springy element comprising a leaf spring made of a band deformed such that the band makes at least one U-turn so that the band has a first leg and at least one second leg. One of the first leg and the at least one second leg is provided with a first support portion supported on the pivoting suspension link, and the other of the first leg and the at least one second leg is provided with a second support portion for supporting the springy element with respect to the patient support device such that the springy element is configured to provide a pre-stress force to the pivoting suspension link.

A dual-stage caster is disclosed. The caster includes a horn assembly and an arm assembly pivotally coupled to the horn assembly. The caster further includes a wheel rotatably mounted to the arm assembly and a mounting plate mounted to the horn assembly and configured be mounted to a transport vehicle. When the wheel is moved along a support surface, the arm assembly is in a neutral position and the wheel is in the up position. When the wheel moves into a depression in the support surface, the wheel stage spring moves the wheel from the up position to the down position and the arm assembly remains in the neutral position. When the wheel moves over a raised portion in the support surface, the arm assembly pivots relative to the horn assembly so as to compress the main stage spring. The caster may be a swivel caster or a rigid caster.

A caster-wheel assembly (100; 200) for a vehicle, for example a wheelchair or powered wheelchair. The caster-wheel assembly comprises a switch (13) coupled to a housing (3); a castering wheel bracket (9) configured to receive a wheel (10), wherein the bracket is rotatably mounted about a caster pivot axis (28) with respect to the housing; biasing means (15) configured to provide a biasing force such that the wheel bracket is biased away from the housing; and a switch-actuating member (13) coupled to the wheel bracket such that movement of the wheel bracket towards the housing and against the biasing force causes the switch-actuating member to actuate the switch.

A wheel mechanism includes a fixing base, a wheel base, a wheel, a fixing tube and a gasket. The gasket is disposed around the fixing tube to prevent the wheel with the wheel base from moving up and down. The upper gasket may be disposed between the fixing base and the wheel base to prevent the fixing base and the wheel base from colliding with each other to generate noise. The lower gasket may be disposed between the wheel base and the fixing tube to prevent the wheel base and the fixing tube from colliding with each other to generate noise. Further, when the wheel base is pivotally connected to the fixing base by the rotating shaft, the invention may selectively dispose at least one resilient member between at least two of the fixing base, the wheel base and the rotating shaft to prevent the wheel from shimmying.

A luggage article may include a plurality of walls together defining an outer structure of the luggage article, a wheel bracket attached to and extending from one of the walls, and one or more wheels attached to the wheel bracket. The wheel bracket may comprise a leaf spring having a loop-shaped profile and the one or more wheels may be rotationally attached to a lower end of the loop-shaped leaf spring. The configuration of the wheel bracket may result in higher shock absorption and reduced wheel noise comparative to conventional wheel brackets, and offer an improvement and alternative to conventional luggage wheel brackets.

A child stroller comprises a wheel assembly that includes a wheel disposed on a wheel mount, a wheel bushing including a bore, a pivot pin including an upper end, the pivot pin extending from an upper portion of the wheel mount and into the bore of the wheel bushing, and a force finger disposed in an upper end of the bore and at least partially surrounding and frictionally engaging the upper end of the pivot pin.

A patient transport apparatus comprises a support structure comprising a base and a patient support surface for supporting a patient and a caster assembly coupled to the base. The caster assembly comprises a wheel assembly. The wheel assembly includes a first edge, a second edge, and a center disposed between the first edge and the second edge. Each of the edges have a lower coefficient of friction than the center. The caster assembly further includes a tilt assembly coupled to the wheel assembly. The tilt assembly is configured to allow the wheel assembly to tilt relative to a floor surface such that at least one of the first and second edges contact the floor surface.