Land vehicles – Skates – Ski simulators
Reexamination Certificate
1995-02-27
2001-05-29
Swann, J. J. (Department: 3611)
Land vehicles
Skates
Ski simulators
C280S087041, C301S005302
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237960
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention refers to a roller-type skiing device of a type having a chassis for supporting wheels on the underside, and in particular to a roller skiboard for two-footed stand and to a roller ski for one-footed stand.
Roller-type skiing devices of this type are useful for work-out or summer training and enable a user to negotiate natural slopes of sand, soil, gravel or the like with or without vegetation, or artificial slopes of concrete, asphalt or like material much like alpine skiers or snowboarders, completely without any snow base and to execute swings to maintain a safe running speed.
A drawback of conventional roller-type skiing devices is the distribution of the wheels on the underside without any consideration to the envelope of the roller ski or the roller skiboard. By disregarding the configuration of the underside and its envelope, the formed running surface of such roller skis or roller skiboards differs from alpine skis or snowboards so that the desired characteristics of alpine skis or snowboards cannot be simulated. The running behavior of the snowboards or skis is dependent on the configuration of the running surface so that various types of skiboards such as freestyle boards, all-round boards, goofie boards or race boards can be identified.
Conventional roller skiboards are unable to simulate the different running behavior of snowboards when used in summer. Also the configuration, such as waisting and curving of simple skis has a great impact upon the swinging or gliding capability during downhill skiing. This different behavior of the skiing device is particularly relevant to skilled skiers, however, conventional roller skis are not designed to meet these requirements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved roller-type skiing device obviating the aforestated drawbacks.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved roller-type skiing device which simulates the running behavior to resemble respective winter skiing devices.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a roller-type skiing device which enables a particular effective grip of the edges.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved roller-type skiing device which is characterized by a firm mounting of the wheels.
These objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are attained in accordance with the present invention in connection with a roller skiboard by providing a chassis having several longitudinal rows carrying a plurality of wheels which are preferably spaced from each other at a same distance and rotate about axes of rotation arranged in parallel relationship to each other, with the wheels of one row being arranged offset to the wheels of neighboring rows, and with the wheels being evenly spaced over the entire underside which is bound by an envelope, whereby the wheels of the row of the wheels neighboring the envelope have varying length to conform to the contour of the envelope, and whereby the free intermediate area between neighboring wheels is not significantly greater than an area covered by the wheels.
By evenly distributing the wheels, the configuration common in winter sport devices can be applied to roller skiboards for simulating their running behavior in summer. The dense arrangement of the wheels forms a substantially similar running surface, with the running surface in particular following the curved envelope. A further advantage of the present invention is the offset arrangement of the rows of wheels as it renders the wheels accessible and thus allows a very rapid attachment of the wheels.
In accordance with the present invention, roller-type skiing devices in form of roller skis for single-footed stand are characterized by a single longitudinal row carrying a plurality of wheels which are preferably spaced from each other at essentially a same distance and rotate about axes of rotation arranged at parallel relationship to each other, with the wheels being evenly spread over the entire underside which is bounded by an envelope whereby the length of the wheels varies to conform to the contour of the envelope and whereby the free intermediate space between neighboring rollers is not significantly greater than the area covered by the wheels.
Thus, the waisting or curving of the ends as common in alpine skis can be applied to roller skis so that the running behavior of alpine skis can be simulated with roller skis according to the present invention.
Preferably, the underside is part of the chassis which is configured to follow at least partially the envelope of the underside. In this manner, the wheels can easily and precisely arranged by adjusting the length of the wheels to conform to the contour of the envelope.
In accordance with a further feature of the present invention, the wheels have an end face which neighbors the envelope of the underside and is provided with a disk-shaped or ring-shaped terminal piece of an edge hard material, e.g. steel or diamond, to enable roller skis according to the present invention to simulate the function of edges of alpine skis. Suitably, the terminal piece of the wheels are flush-mounted with the outer surface area of the wheels so that a spinning of the wheels will not be obstructed when skiing down in a straight line.
According to another feature of the present invention, the terminal piece of each wheel may project beyond the diameter of the wheels, with the projecting part bounding a hollow cylinder which is placed over the wheel and made of elastic material, e.g. hard rubber. Thus, when initiating a swing, the edges of the terminal piece of the wheels become exposed as the elastic material of the hollow cylinder is compressed under pressure.
According to a further feature of the present invention, at least the underside is upwardly curved on one or both axial ends. In view of the even distribution of the wheels over the entire underside, also the curved part of the roller-type skiing device is provided with wheels so that the function of the curvature in common alpine skis is also simulated by the roller-type skiing devices, for example to support the execution of a figure jump.
Preferably, in roller-type skiing devices in form of roller skiboards, the middle row of wheels has wheels of greater diameter than the diameter of the wheels of neighboring rows. By increasing the diameter of the wheels in the middle row, the user is able to tilt the roller skiboard when shifting the own weight so as to facilitate initiation of a swing or facilitate a breaking action.
In order to achieve a highly cost-efficient manufacture of a roller-type skiing device according to the present invention, the chassis is preferably formed at least partially by side walls of the roller-type skiing device.
Advantageously, the axis of rotation of each wheel is formed by an axle having one end adapted for attachment of a socket-head screw and another end provided with a blind bore, with the axle traversing longitudinally a bore through the wheel. In prolongation of each axial end of the bore is a counterbore for receiving a ball-and-socket joint by which the axle is supported and secured to the chassis via a socket head screw. Thus, the wheels are supported in a very stable manner so that ground material of the slope will not adversely affect the spinning or rolling properties of the wheels.
REFERENCES:
patent: 339382 (1886-04-01), Colburn
patent: 954993 (1910-04-01), Peters
patent: 2878071 (1959-03-01), Fowlkes
patent: 3355185 (1967-11-01), Carter
patent: 3522951 (1970-08-01), Tyson
patent: 3622172 (1971-11-01), Goodwin
patent: 3827706 (1974-08-01), Milliman
patent: 4045046 (1977-08-01), Taylor et al.
patent: 4805934 (1989-02-01), Mullenax
patent: 4921513 (1990-05-01), Parten
patent: 5096225 (1992-03-01), Osawa
patent: 5114166 (1992-05-01), McCosker
patent: 5183276 (1993-02-01), Pratt
patent: 5192088 (1993-03-01), Yu
patent: 5224718 (1993-07-01), Gertler
patent: 5356209 (1994-10-01), Hill
Dunn David R.
Feiereisen Henry M.
Swann J. J.
LandOfFree
Roller-type skiing device for negotiating a slope does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Roller-type skiing device for negotiating a slope, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Roller-type skiing device for negotiating a slope will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2560459