Land vehicles – Skates – Wheeled skate
Patent
1997-07-22
1998-12-29
Camby, Richard M.
Land vehicles
Skates
Wheeled skate
280 1127, A63C 1706
Patent
active
058531793
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to in-line roller skates, otherwise known as roller blades.
FIGS. 1-3 show examples of prior art in-line roller skates. In-line roller skates, irrespective of the number of wheels, perform more favourably for straight line travel in terms of rolling performance, or speed, when the wheels are all on the same horizontal plane, and therefore all in contact with the ground and equally sharing the load provided by the mass of the skater. FIG. 1 displays an in-line roller skate with the wheels set level.
When turning corners, in-line roller skates perform better when the foremost and rearmost wheels are raised slightly relative to the other wheels. With this arrangement, so long as the wheels are held upright by the skater, the wheels are not all in contact with the ground, as shown in FIG. 2. This arrangement is known as `rocking` as the skate pitches on the centre wheel or wheels. Whereas the common tangent of the wheels in FIG. 1 is a straight line, that in FIG. 2 is a curve, concave upwards.
With the skate set with this `rocking` arrangement, and should the skater lean to either side, so that the wheels deviate laterally from the vertical, all the wheels may come into contact with the ground as shown in FIG. 3a with the contact points creating a curve as shown in FIG. 3b, thereby providing a simple form of steering.
Existing in-line roller skates are frequently provided with mechanical means of changing the arrangement of the wheels from `level` to `rocking` leaving the skater to make the choice between rolling or cornering performance, as it is not possible to have the best of both arrangements at the same time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,208 discloses an in-line roller skate adapted to navigate rough surfaces. It provides a flexible chassis mounted directly on the boot. Conventional shock absorbers can be fitted to the wheel axle bearings, or the flexing of the chassis can accommodate the shocks. In the latter case the chassis can be formed with apertures which open or close with applied forces and into which different shock absorbers can be fitted to control the hardness of the ride.
I have discovered that, in order to provide strength and desired modes of flexing between the central region of the skate and its ends, the chassis should be secured to a rigid carrier and the securing should extend over an extended central region, limited to allow flexing over substantial end regions. The invention provides in one aspect a roller skate attachment for securing to a boot comprising a single row of aligned wheels for travelling on the ground, a resilient chassis for supporting the wheels and a rigid carrier secured to the chassis at at least two fixing points, the carrier being adapted for securing to a boot, the chassis being resiliently deformable in the plane of rotation of the wheels, the distance between the axis of the front wheel and the axis of the rear wheel being at least 1.5 times the distance between the front fixing point and the rear fixing point. Optional features of the invention are set out in the subsidiary claims. The invention in another aspect provides the combination of the attachment with the boot.
In the accompanying drawings, examples of the prior art and of the invention are illustrated:
FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an entire roller skate with its wheel axes in a straight horizontal line,
FIG. 2 is a side elevation of an entire roller skate with its wheel axes on a curve, concave upwards,
FIG. 3 is a rear elevation of the skate of FIG. 2 in use negotiating a curve with the wheel positions indicated by crosses in the lower part of the Figure, and
FIG. 4 contains a side and exploded end elevations of an embodiment of the invention,
FIG. 5 shows different fixing possibilities between the chassis and carrier of FIG. 4,
FIG. 6 shows side and end elevations of the skate of FIG. 4 together with different bracing bars which may be secured thereto,
FIGS. 7 and 8 show different embodiments of wheels on their chassis and
FIG. 9 shows an integral boot and carrier.
FIGS. 1 to 3 have
REFERENCES:
patent: 4666168 (1987-05-01), Hammill et al.
patent: 5092614 (1992-03-01), Malewicz
patent: 5277437 (1994-01-01), Moats
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