Castors get conveyors moving

January 4, 2016

Ross Castors

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What are Castors, the age old question? Are they stars in the Gemini galaxy, or small perforated shakers for sprinkling powdered sugar, or a pivoting roller attached to the bottom of furniture and machinery to make them movable, or a type of American beaver? If you were to type castors, or casters, as our friends over the pond in America spell the term, into an internet search engine, the answer to the above question could be all four! However in an industrial environment castors are by definition a wheel on a swivelling axel, attachable to aid manoeuvrability. Over the years there have been some clever designs of castors to aid the movement of objects. One of the most recent dynamic castors developments has been in the field of conveyor systems.

Glass by its nature is fragile and brittle and great care is taken within the manufacturing process to ensure wastage is kept to a minimum. A recent development has been the glass handling castors, designed specifically for handling such delicate and polished flat sheet surfaces in the glass manufacturing process. These castors are essentially either a rubber, polyurethane or nylon ball, sitting on a threaded stem. Set these ball castors along side each other, as if on a conveyor, and the ball of the castor comes into contact with the glass or wood and enables effortless movement along the conveyor system.

Glass handling castors have made such an impact in the glass handling industry as they have the functionality to work in either wet, dry or even dusty and harsh environments. These versatile castors have also made an inroad into the food manufacturing world. As glass handling castors can be fitted with a stainless steel threads, making them non corrosive. These castors also have the added advantage of being a non marking castor. The rubber or polyurethane ball of the castor has non marking properties suitable for food manufacturing environments. The polyurethane ball glass handling castors have resistance to wear and tearing, making them an effective choice on a conveyor system.

Conveyor systems have been an important part of handling bulky materials since the 17th Century. In the early days they were mainly for moving sacks of grains. It wasn’t until the 1900’s that conveyor systems were automated using conveyor belts and rollers. A fore runner to the glass handling castors, were smaller ball transfer castors. These castors are suitable for heavier loads and are available in a variety of sizes and shapes. Ball transfer castors essentially consist of a large ball seated within a quantity of smaller ball bearings, in a hemispherical cup. This ingenious design allows the main ball castor to rotate freely in any direction.

Ball transfer castors are most commonly used in a ball up position, which allows any object to be moved quickly across a number of these castor units. You may have seen these powerful little castors on conveyor systems and particularly in airport luggage systems. Historically the job would have been achieved by inverted castors; however the limitation arises with inverted castors, as they have to be aligned before any movement is achieved. The designs and development of both the glass handling castors and conveyor ball transfer castors, has meant the movement of heavy objects has indeed become effortless and efficient in our manufacturing, industrial and transport industries.