Patents on the soles of your shoes...: wheels

Monday, May 26, 2025

Oh, patents! Bugaboo® swivel wheels (2)

Bugaboo® strollers are equipped with patented swivel wheels. Consider, for example, the US utility patent US7497449, titled Child buggy with wheel with suspension, wheel with suspension and swivel wheel with suspension, granted to Stéphane Logger, on March 3rd, 2009.

The patent abstract is included below, together with the patent Figure 1, indexed in the abstract.

The invention relates to a swivel wheel (10) with suspension (14), comprising a wheel frame (11), a wheel element (12) able to turn about a horizontal wheel axle (13), a suspension (14) and an arm (15). At one end the arm (15) is attached to the wheel frame (11) such that it can pivot about a horizontal arm axis (17) and at the other end it supports the wheel axle (13) Some distance away from the arm axis (17). The Suspension (14) engages on the arm (15) at an arm engagement point (18) and on the wheel frame (11) at a frame engagement point (19). The arm engagement point (18) and the frame engagement point (19) define a straight Suspension axis (20) running through these points. The wheel furthermore has an adjustment mechanism (30) that is equipped for setting the distance (D) from the suspension axis (20) to the arm axis (17) by moving the arm engagement point (18) and/or the frame engagement point (19) along an adjustment track (31). [Abstract US7497449]

Interestingly, the scope of the invention is such that the patent recites a swivel wheel where the swivel wheel frame (11) could be part of the stroller frame or part of the wheel. Thus, when the swivel wheels are not built in as part of the stroller frame, the swivel wheels might be replaced when worn. As a result, several different swivel wheel models are available as accessories for the corresponding Bugaboo® stroller models.

Below, images of accessory Bugaboo® rear swivel wheels for the Butterfly®, Dragonfly® and Bee® 6 stroller models.

Bugaboo® Butterfly® swivel wheels

Bugaboo® Dragonfly® swivel wheels

Bugaboo® Bee® 6 swivel wheels

Reference
Bugaboo® (website)
https://www.bugaboo.com/us-en

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Oh, Patents! - The Ballbarrow

The unpatented invention of the wheel, a circular component rotating on a thrust bearing axle, dates back several thousand years to the Neolithic and Bronze Age, and the ancient civilizations of India, China, Egypt and the Olmecs in Central America! But it wasn’t till 1978 that the wheel was re-invented by James Dyson as a Ground engaging member for movable structures, in the British tradition of the hovercraft!.... And the first embodiment of this invention was the Ballbarrow!

A Ballbarrow is a wheelbarrow equipped with “two relatively rotable [nylon] cups….having flanges ….which provide the axial thrust bearing…”, that is, a ball, functioning as a wheel!

Beyond impressing your neighbors with your cool-looking and stylish British barrow…. there are plenty of advantages to Ballbarrows! The ball at the front gives stability to a loaded barrow, preventing it from tipping. It also prevents the barrow from marking or sinking into muddy ground. The ball also facilitates the negotiation of uneven terrain. And finally, it also never rusts, since it is made of plastic.

On another level, of course, the scope of this invention is hardly limited to barrows! Indeed, and still many years later, your favorite Dyson vacuum cleaner also negotiates the uneven terrain of your living room with a large yellow or purple ball instead of wheels!....

Here is the abstract of this invention and one of the drawings of the GROUND ENGAGING MEMBER FOR MOVABLE OBJECTS:

"A combined radial and axial thrust bearing for a movable structure e.g. a wheelbarrow [...] comprises two relatively rotatable cups 22, 25 having flanges 24, 26 which provide the axial thrust bearing. Preferably the bearing cups are made of nylon 6. [GB1510011]