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I can't for the life of me figure this one out -- they appear to be attached by a screw, but it's neither a slotted nor a phillips, and in any event the wheel blocks access to it. I can't seem to just pull it off, either. Any suggestions?

It's easy, they are not screwed on, the "X" is just stamped to "peen" the parts together... just use a screwdriver or small pry bar to remove it...
It's rusty after 100+ years and inserted into a sleeve that is driven into the wood leg, so don't be afraid to use a fair amount of force to get it out.

Curt is correct! Wouldn't hurt to turn the cabinet upside down and squirt a bit penetrating oil into the gap that Curt has identified as the area to pry on. Most likely, the shaft of the caster is a little rusted in place, as well as normally being a snug fit anyway.

Zenger wrote:I can't for the life of me figure this one out -- they appear to be attached by a screw, but it's neither a slotted nor a phillips, and in any event the wheel blocks access to it. I can't seem to just pull it off, either. Any suggestions?

Why do you want to ?

Even when first invented and applied to furniture, casters like the one pictured are death to wood floors! Why they continued to be applied to phonograph cabinets, or anything else, well into the 20th century is a mystery to me. I've placed rubber (?) cups under each caster/leg of my VV-XI; one of these days I'll get around to next step, putting teflon pads under each cup. Meanwhile, the phonograph stays put.

I always remove them, clean them up with a steel wire wheel to remove the rust and oil them so they work better... they can be replaced with brass or wood wheeled casters, but cleaning off the rust and oiling them works well.

Henry wrote: Why they continued to be applied to phonograph cabinets, or anything else, well into the 20th century is a mystery to me.

That's a pretty easy question to answer.

It's because wall to wall carpet didn't start to gain popularity until the late 20's into the 30's.
This meant most people were still picking up mats and carpets on a weekly basis to take them outside for a beating.
In turn, this meant a lot of furniture has to be moved to enable said carpet to be rolled up and taken outside, so dining tables, lounge suites, desks, dressers, beds and just about anything else that was reasonably heavy, and your feet touched the floor for more than a few seconds using it, were given casters so they could be rolled out the way.

Even those lucky enough to have wall to wall and a vacuum often found furniture needed moving because vacuums and carpet sweepers didn't always clean right up to the leg on furniture.

This of course wasn't such a problem in rooms that used lino, oil cloth, wood or stone flooring because they were usually mopped, washed or scrubbed and/or polished.
A kitchen for example may have only had casters on the ice chest/box, and some smaller kitchen hutches so they could be moved away from the wall for proper cleaning. Other items usually stood on ant proof bowls

gramophoneshane wrote:

Henry wrote: Why they continued to be applied to phonograph cabinets, or anything else, well into the 20th century is a mystery to me.

That's a pretty easy question to answer.

It's because wall to wall carpet didn't start to gain popularity until the late 20's into the 30's.
This meant most people were still picking up mats and carpets on a weekly basis to take them outside for a beating.
In turn, this meant a lot of furniture has to be moved to enable said carpet to be rolled up and taken outside, so dining tables, lounge suites, desks, dressers, beds and just about anything else that was reasonably heavy, and your feet touched the floor for more than a few seconds using it, were given casters so they could be rolled out the way.

Even those lucky enough to have wall to wall and a vacuum often found furniture needed moving because vacuums and carpet sweepers didn't always clean right up to the leg on furniture.

This of course wasn't such a problem in rooms that used lino, oil cloth, wood or stone flooring because they were usually mopped, washed or scrubbed and/or polished.
A kitchen for example may have only had casters on the ice chest/box, and some smaller kitchen hutches so they could be moved away from the wall for proper cleaning. Other items usually stood on ant proof bowls

My point still holds: these metal casters are ruinous to wood floors!

"My point still holds: these metal casters are ruinous to wood floors!"

Good point, Henry... The obvious solution for collectors is cement floors. Get rid of that wood...

OR, you could replace those steel casters with wooden wheeled ones...
https://www.rockler.com/hardwood-caster ... gJT0PD_BwE