The first known use of designed Casters was in the field of furniture. Previous to this, a piece of furniture was always heavy, stationary objects, which had to be dismantled to its component parts, before it could be moved to another location. The piece of furniture had to be reassembled at the new spot, before it could be used. But in 1876 a Furniture Designer called David A. Fisher, designed and patented a new method of making furniture mobile, but without dismantling it. Since then, Casters have improved vastly, until now their applications are widely in all mechanical industries, where the requirement of mobility is hugely felt. Heavy Duty Swivel Caster is one of the latest additions to the application of Casters in the modern world.

Who Needs Swiveling HD?

Casters are mainly either of Rigid Type or Swivel. Further sub-divisions of Casters are Industrial and Breaking & Locking. The Rigid Casters have Wheels Forks that do not move or rotate on the Caster Base-plate. Rigid Casters are often used as the back wheel of a shopping cart in a super store or Mall. There is only one movement possible here, that is in the axis of the Wheel. The Forks of Swivel Casters are fixed on the Base-plates such that they can rotate almost 360 degrees. In-fact these are often used as Front wheels of the shopping carts, so as to turn in any direction. Casters have been used mostly on light applications so far. But the development of the Industrial Heavy Duty Swivel Caster has completely opened up the field of application of Casters.

From the Light Duty Caster applications before, heavy industry was now the main area of application. Powerful Platform Cranes, Harbor Axis Cranes, even Space Rocket Assembly Platforms, are now using Swivel Casters. The load capacity has increased now for Heavy Duty Casters, from 350 Kg to several tones, and the Swivel is smooth and steady, without any wobble.

The Cost Of Swivel HD

While the cost of Swivel Casters have steadily gone up with complexity and load bearing capacity, modern materials have kept pace with requirement. Some truly massive engineering projects have rested on the capability of the humble Swivel Caster. The cost of the Swivel Caster, even in its Heavy Duty persona, is still far more competitive and effective than its competitors for moving heavy equipment, even the giant winches and pull cranes.