Land vehicles – Skates – Shoe attaching means
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-04
2001-08-07
Vanaman, Frank (Department: 3611)
Land vehicles
Skates
Shoe attaching means
C280S011190
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270090
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The subject of the present invention is a roller skate comprising a chassis equipped with rollers and a boot attached removably to the chassis at four non-aligned points, by catching and locking so as to provide a stable connection between the boot and the chassis, locking being achieved automatically by the deformation of an elastic member when the roller chassis is put on.
PRIOR ART
The removable attachment of a boot to an ice skate or roller skate goes back to the beginnings of skating. Attachment was generally achieved using claws actuated by a lever and which gripped onto the sole of the boot. Such bindings are described in patent CH 118 742 and patent U.S. Pat. No. 1,402,010.
In a more modern version, described in patent U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,729, the sole of the boot is equipped with a metal plate which, at the front, has two holes in the shape of keyholes which catch on two tenons of the skate and, at the rear, a bayonet hole in which there engages a rotary member which has an actuating arm and two horizontal bars which press on two ramps so as to press the heel of the boot against the metal plate of the skate. This skate has no locking means, the binding being maintained by friction.
Patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,506 discloses a roller skate with a removable boot, in which skate the boot is equipped with slideways at the front and at the back, these slideways engaging over rails of the chassis. Automatic locking is achieved by a bent leaf spring over which the heel of the boot catches. An embodiment of this kind does, however, present a number of drawbacks: it is not easy to engage the slideways of the boot over the rails, especially as no play can be tolerated, and this demands a manufacturing precision or a force-fitting which are hardly acceptable or alternatively demands elastic deformation which detracts from the stability of the boot. The absence of longitudinal play in the locking is also difficult to master. Releasing the boot is somewhat inconvenient.
Patent application FR 2 720 286 furthermore discloses a roller skate with removable boot in which the boot is attached by catching at the front, whereas at the rear the boot is equipped with a latch lock device by means of which it can be attached to the rear of the chassis in order to press the heel of the boot against the chassis.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to produce a simple, robust, very stable automatic binding which is free of play and easy to open in order to release the boot.
The roller skate according to the invention is one wherein automatic catching and automatic locking are achieved using at least one catching and locking element subject to the action of at least one elastic means of maintaining a locked position, and wherein the skate comprises an unlocking means consisting of an unlocking lever articulated to the rear of the chassis and acting on the catching and locking element against the action of said elastic means so as to free the boot.
According to certain embodiments, the catching and locking take place simultaneously at the four catching points using a catching and locking element common to the four points.
The unlocking lever preferably acts directly on the catching and locking element.
The unlocking lever is preferably articulated to the rear of the chassis about a horizontal axle which is transverse to the chassis. According to one embodiment, when the boot is detached from the chassis, the lever is maintained in an approximately vertical position by the catching and locking element, so that it can be used as a handle when putting on the rollers.
Advantageously, the chassis at the four catching points has V-shaped notches in which horizontal bars or tenons of the boot can engage.
According to one embodiment, the catching and locking element which is common to the four catching points has nibs which engage over the bars or tenons via inclined sides so as to press them into the bottom of the V-shaped notches. A further effect of these inclined sides is that they take up any play which is due to wear of the notches and/or of the bars or tenons.
Unequal wear of the two sides of the chassis can be compensated for by the fact that the catching and locking element is made in the form of two parallel plates with cutouts joined together by a spacer piece with play which allows longitudinal movement of one plate with respect to the other.
Automatic catching can be achieved simply by giving the inclined upper sides of the catching nibs an inclination so that the nibs part under the pressure of the bars or tenons.
This embodiment requires that the foot should press relatively heavily on the chassis in order to put it on, in order to overcome the force of the return spring. According to another embodiment, this pressure can be greatly reduced by using a catch which retains the catching and locking element in the unlocked position, this catch being positioned relative to the level of the bottom of the V-shaped notches of the chassis in such a way that it is actuated by the tenons or bars of the boot when the boot is put on. This catch can be produced in various ways.
Advantageously one and the same spring both returns the catch and returns the catching and locking element.
The unlocking lever may furthermore be used as a handle for manipulating the chassis when putting it on and as an auxiliary means for laterally holding the boot, particularly a cuff with which the boot is equipped.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2244719 (1941-06-01), Mansfield
patent: 3367669 (1968-02-01), Collins
patent: 4177584 (1979-12-01), Beyl
patent: 4900043 (1990-02-01), Kho
patent: 5334065 (1994-08-01), Uren et al.
patent: 5507506 (1996-04-01), Shadroui
patent: 5520406 (1996-05-01), Anderson et al.
patent: 5595396 (1997-01-01), Bourdeau
patent: 5695210 (1997-12-01), Goss et al.
patent: 5741019 (1998-04-01), Lu
patent: 5895061 (1999-04-01), Gignoux
patent: 686492 A (1996-04-01), None
patent: 2836481 (1979-03-01), None
patent: 4311630 (1994-08-01), None
patent: 214558 (1987-03-01), None
patent: 2 720 286 A (1995-12-01), None
Pitney Hardin Kipp & Szuch LLP
Skis Rossignol S.A.
Vanaman Frank
LandOfFree
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