Land vehicles – Skates – Wheeled skate
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-20
2001-09-25
Mai, Lanna (Department: 3619)
Land vehicles
Skates
Wheeled skate
C280S011222, C280S011270
Reexamination Certificate
active
06293563
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to chassis for a gliding sport element such as a roller skate or an ice skate, and a gliding sport element including such a chassis.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
A chassis of the aforementioned type must ensure the linkage between the gliding member(s) themselves, namely the skate blade, wheels, or rollers, and the user's foot.
The chassis is therefore generally constituted by a support surface that is capable of receiving the boot of the athlete, and by one or two lateral flanges adapted to receive the wheels, rollers, or the blade of the skate.
The chassis must also have substantial characteristics of mechanical resistance while being as light as possible, to avoid the forces imposed by the athlete from being too substantial.
Furthermore, the increasing technicality of these gliding sport elements, especially for in-line roller skates, further increases the conflicting requirements which must be met by the skate chassis, namely:
an increased mechanical resistance and stability, especially for speed skates, but also for the so-called free ride, free style, or hockey skates;
some flexibility, especially in certain zones of the skate to enable the shape of the skate to adapt to the path covered, especially in turns at high speed;
various and original forms the meet e(merging and changing fashion requirements; and
a lowest possible manufacturing cost.
The techniques used in manufacturing the currently known chassis do not make it possible to meet all of these requirements, while maintaining a reasonable manufacturing cost.
Indeed, the oldest manufacturing technique consists of making such chassis from a U-shaped folded metal sheet, as shown in the document DE 10 33 569, for example.
Such a manufacturing principle, while inexpensive, does not, however, make it possible to obtain a large variety of forms, nor chassis with substantial mechanical resistance, unless the thickness of the metal sheet, and therefore the weight thereof, are substantially increased.
Another commonly used technique consists of making the chassis by molding from a synthetic, or metallic, material. Molding offers the advantage of allowing various forms, but it also has numerous disadvantages:
the cost of the molds;
limited selection of materials capable of being molded;
low mechanical resistance of these molding materials, even when they are metallic; and
insufficient molding precision, requiring additional machining, especially with respect to alignment of the holes for fixing the wheels or the skate blade on a two-flange chassis.
Chassis made of composite fibers are also known. These chassis can indeed be obtained in almost all possible forms, but their manufacture is extremely expensive and difficult to industrialize. Furthermore, while such chassis are extremely rigid, they lack flexibility and are therefore fragile and “uncomfortable.”
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,846 has proposed to make a chassis for ice skates or roller skates from a profiled metallic bar whose transverse cross section corresponds to the general section desired for the chassis, the final form of the chassis being obtained after machining with removal of material.
Such a manufacturing method is also very expensive, due to the necessary machining period and the quantity of material to be removed. It does not allow for a great freedom with respect to the form or profile of the chassis.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to remedy the aforementioned drawbacks and to provide an improved chassis for a gliding sport element, as well as a gliding sport element, such as an in-line skate, employing such improved chassis, which resolves the various aforementioned problems and, in particular, to reconcile the characteristics of mechanical resistance, adaptability, flexibility, lightness, and a low manufacturing cost.
The chassis of the gliding element according to the invention is made by cutting from a metallic flank a form corresponding substantially the developed or completed, form of at least one portion of the chassis, and obtaining at least one stiffening rib by pressing such portion of the chassis.
Indeed, stiffening the chassis by means of one or more stiffening ribs by pressing enables, at equal weight with respect to a chassis merely obtained by bending, a substantial increase in the characteristics of rigidity and resistance to deformation due, on the one hand, to the presence of such ribs, but also to the localized work hardening of the material obtained in the area of such ribs related to the manufacturing method by pressing.
Depending on the desired results, one can provide each rib to extend substantially along the entire length of the flange of the chassis, or only over a limited central zone of each flange, or yet in the area of the ends of each flange.
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Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Mai Lanna
Phan Hau
Salomon S.A.
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