Device or wheel unit for mounting in a suitcase

Claim 1

A wheel support for transporting a suitcase, comprising: (a) a box-shaped housing adapted to be secured to the suitcase; (b) a bifurcated bracket including a pair of legs joined together by a connecting part, said bracket being pivotally supported on said housing near one corner thereof; (c) a wheel adapted to roll over small objects such as curbs or steps and rotatably carried on said bracket for pivoting therewith between a retracted and an extended position; (d) a sleeve fixedly secured at its ends to said bracket and extending between its legs in registry with aligned apertures in said bracket, the outside of said sleeve being adjacent to said wheel; and (e) a pair of pins slidably retained in said sleeve, and a spring yieldingly biasing said pins apart, the ends of said pins normally projecting through said bracket apertures, the ends of said pins being laterally engageable with abutments on said housing in said extended position, and both of said pins being depressable endwise out of engagement with said housing when said bracket is in said extended position; (f) and a further spring connected at one end to said connecting part of said bracket, and at the other end to the interior of the housing, said spring being more tensioned in both of said retracted and extended positions of said bracket than in a position intermediate said retracted and extended positions.