Land vehicles – Ski or skate appliance or attachment
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-15
2002-08-06
Swann, J. J. (Department: 3611)
Land vehicles
Ski or skate appliance or attachment
C280S011190, C280S816000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06428050
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a skate powered by a motor in which the rotor also functions as a drive wheel of the skate.
2. Description of the Related Art
The prior art in the United States includes eight patents for motorized skates and one patent for a motorized skateboard.
In U.S. Pat. No. 823,385 the skate has a gear-drive motor attached to the rear wheel of the skate, with a bevel-pinion which meshes with a bevel-gear on the front wheel. It utilizes a gasoline motor having a carburetor.
The skate of U.S. Pat. No. 854,299 utilizes pneumatic tires which are chain driven by an internal combustion motor. Ratchets prevent the wheels from moving in a reverse direction. A belt to be worn by the user has control cords, which simply transmit a mechanical force when pulled by the user, for the motor.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,672,700 discloses, but does not claim, skates whose wheels are powered by an electric motor. The electric motor is attached to the heel of the skate and drives the rear wheels through a train of reduction gears. A rheostat or similar device controls the speed of the motor. The battery and rheostat are worn about the waist of the user and are connected by wires to the motor.
The skates covered by U.S. Pat. No. 2,857,008 have rear wheels which are powered through a flexible drive shaft by a gasoline motor power pack worn on the back of the user. Control means consist of a hand-held unit having wires for the throttle, clutch, and ignition. (The wires for the throttle and clutch simply transmit magnetic forces; the wire for the ignition electrical grounds and, therefore, deactivates the motor in the power pack.) The skate can only be driven in a forward direction.
The device of U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,032 may utilize either standard wheels or wheels inside an endless belt that contacts the surface on which the skating is to be done. An electric motor is mounted on the skates and is connected to the drive wheels by “any standard type of speed changing linkage,” such as a chain and sprocket mechanism or a series of gears (spur gear trains). A battery and switches to control speed are worn by the user and are wired to the motor.
Covered by U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,841 is a device having an internal combustion engine to be worn by the user. A flexible drive shaft from the engine is connected, by a releasable clutch, to the driving shaft that powers the rear wheels of the skate. When the clutch is released, the skates function as normal, non-powered skates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,632 involves an extremely complicated device and may be either a motor-driven skate or a ski propelled by a belt driven by a motor. The motor is connected to the wheels or belt with a bevel gear device through either a Cardan or flexible coupling transmission which permit movement in one direction only. Power for the motor is generated by a system away from the skates, which includes a thermal engine and an electric, pneumatic, hydraulic, or equivalent power generator; there is also a power storage reservoir. Steering is accomplished through an elaborate deformable parallelogram system. A braking system and a remote control are, also, employed, as additionally is a variator for varying the speed of the wheels or the belt. Very few details are provided for the remote control; the patent essentially only states, in line 41 through line 45 of column 1, with reference to the remote control means, “These means being essentially an electronic, electric, hydraulic or equivalent regulation device; overload and overpressure release devices and an order control and transmitting means actuated, manually.”
And an internal combustion engine is attached to a skate in the invention of U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,058. The engine may be coupled to a drive wheel by a vee belt pulley, a worm drive, a gearing system, or a chain drive. A friction clutch is optionally disclosed. Brakes are operated by depressing a toe plate. When no clutch is employed, the skater begins skating under muscle power until a desired speed is attained; this causes the engine to rotate so that it will begin operating when fuel is introduced into it. If desired, an auxiliary wheel, rather than a drive wheel, can be utilized for this purpose. A wired or wireless remote control is also disclosed; but, again, few details are given concerning the remote control.
The patent applying to a motorized skateboard is U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,621. An electric motor is attached to the bottom of a skateboard. The disclosure asserts that the motor is connected to a drive wheel of the skateboard with a belt, tooth belt, chain, direct engine drive, geared drive, friction drive, or angle gear drive, although only a pulley which is compressed into a channel in the drive wheel through pressure from the surface on which the skateboard is being ridden is claimed. A rheostat may govern the speed of the engine. The motor may be activated and deactivated through a hand-held transmitter which communicates with a receiver connected to the motor.
It should, moreover, be noted that none of the preceding patents indicated that the skate or skateboard could optionally be operated in a forward direction or a reverse direction.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The Motorized Skate of the present invention utilizes an electric motor wherein the rotor of such electric motor also serves as the drive wheel of the Motorized Skate. Preferably such electric motor is the Electric Motor with Rotor Being a Drive Wheel which is the subject of the United States patent application entitled “Electric Motor with Rotor Being a Drive Wheel,” which is owned by the owner of the present patent application, and which has been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on the same date as the present application. The application for the “Electric Motor with Rotor Being a Drive Wheel” is hereby incorporated by reference within the present patent application.
And even more preferably, such electric motor utilizes the first method for controlling the speed of the drive wheel which is described in the United States patent application entitled “Electric Motor with Rotor Being a Drive Wheel.”
The rail which supports the foot of the user and also supports the axle for each wheel of the skate. Such rail, thus, serves as the structure that supports the axle for the drive wheel has attached to such rail one or more electromagnets for each drive wheel in the United States patent application entitled “Electric Motor with Rotor Being a Drive Wheel.” The electric motors are otherwise constructed and function as described in the United States patent application entitled “Electric Motor with Rotor Being a Drive Wheel.”
Preferably, when the first method for controlling the speed of the drive wheel which is described in the United States patent application entitled “Electric Motor with Rotor Being a Drive Wheel” is employed, a single computer controls all the electric motors on a skate. Each electric motor or any combination of electric motors can, however, be controlled by a separate computer.
With the first method, each computer receives commands from a remote control which communicates with the computer by wire, by fibre-optic cable, by electromagnetic waves (preferably, radio frequency waves), by ultrasonic signals sent through the air, by utilizing the body of the user as a medium for transmission of a radio frequency wave, or by any other method for sending signals containing information that is well known in the art. When the second method for controlling speed is employed, the remote control can only transmit signals, as described above, for controlling the speed and for reversing the direction of the drive wheels. (As with the computer, a single timing circuit can be utilized for any combination of the electric motors on a given skate but preferably controls all such electric motors.) But when the third method is utilized, only reversal of direction can be accomplished with the remote control.
Preferably when the first method for controlling the speed of the drive wheels is utili
Brandley Adam K.
Irwin John R.
Fehr Thompson E.
Swann J. J.
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