Land vehicles – Skates – Wheeled skate
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-14
2002-01-22
Swann, J. J. (Department: 3611)
Land vehicles
Skates
Wheeled skate
C280S011224, C280S011300, C280S011221, C280S011320, C036S115000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06340164
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a skate, especially an in-line roller skate or other skate, particularly adapted for so-called “aggressive” skating.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
In a known manner, a skate of the above-mentioned type is constituted, at its base, of a chassis having a longitudinal lower portion on which the gliding element, such as wheels or a blade, is arranged, and which is overlaid by a plate adapted to fix the fitting portion formed by an upper covering the user's foot, incorporating an outer sole and extending at its upper portion toward the user's ankle.
The skates adapted to this type of skating, called “aggressive skating”, are fitted on the basis of this conventional design.
Particularly arrangements have been proven to be necessary for the practice of such a sport, which consists of gliding, not only by certain portions of the chassis, but also by certain portions of the upper on various supports, such as metallic rails, concrete walls, etc., and which prematurely wear the chassis and the boots themselves, because the later are very biased and, therefore, wear out very quickly.
To overcome this type of disadvantage, commonly owned French patent publication No. 2 766 065 discloses a skate having a front fitting portion forming the shell made of two different materials, one of which, relatively flexible, offers qualities of comfort and foot covering in certain zones, and the other of which, relatively rigid, constitutes reinforcements in different zones than the preceding zones, more particularly exposed to wear and tear, abrasion, and having superior qualities of mechanical resistance, this dual material zones of the shell being obtained by duplicate molding or bi-injection.
While this makes is possible to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages, it is however necessary to provide specific bi-injection molding tools for the manufacture of each model, because the two portions are closely connected and, therefore, involve specific constructions per model.
It is also known to overcome the aforementioned disadvantage by attaching protections made of reinforced metal or plastic on the shell, as described in the patent publication DE 296 12 211. These protections have the major disadvantage of being attached elements which necessitate additional labor costs.
Moreover, these reinforcements constitute extra thicknesses on the shell which increase the risks of hooking.
A skate is also known from commonly owned French patent publication No. 2 755 586, and corresponding U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/963,630, whose fitting portion includes a soft upper associated with an insole adapted to be affixed to a rigid base defining both a sole adapted to be connected to the chassis of the skate, and a heel stiffener extending from the base and capable of receiving a hinged rigid collar adapted to surround the user's ankle.
While such a skate yields good results in conventional in-line roller skating, the protection is however insufficient in the so-called “aggressive” skating, because the peripheral edge of the soft upper is only protected at the rear, and not laterally.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To overcome all of the aforementioned disadvantages, the present invention relates to a skate having a fitting portion adapted to be fixed on the plate of a chassis supporting the gliding element for the practice of “aggressive” skating, wherein the fitting portion includes:
a soft portion forming an upper mounted on a rigid sole, called the insole;
a rigid cradle adapted to receive the soft portion and formed of an integral shell cut at its front and lateral portion corresponding to the top of the foot, and defining a sole adapted to be fixed on the chassis, extended by a heel stiffener capable of receiving a hinged rigid collar, on the one hand, and by a lateral protective band peripherally bordering the front and sides of the sole, in the extension of the heel stiffener, on the other hand; and
an arrangement for assembling the soft portion on the cradle.
The present inventing also relates to the characteristics which will become apparent from the following description, and which must be considered separately or according to all of their possible technical combinations.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a skate comprising a chassis supporting a gliding element for practicing aggressive skating, said chassis having an upwardly facing support plate. A boot fitting portion is fixed on the support plate, the fitting portion including a soft portion forming an upper mounted on a rigid sole, the rigid sole comprising an insole. A hard cradle is provided for receiving the soft portion and is formed of an integral shell cut at a front and lateral portion corresponding to a top of a foot of a wearer of the boot and defining a sole adapted to be fixed on the chassis, extended by a heel stiffener capable of receiving a hinged rigid collar and by a lateral protective band peripherally bordering front and sides of the sole, in the extension of the heel stiffener. An arrangement is provided for assembling the soft portion onto the cradle.
The soft portion may comprise a rigid toe-cup adapted to cooperate, for the assembly, with a corresponding front portion of the lateral rigid band for protecting the hard cradle. The arrangement assembling the soft portion onto the hard cradle forming the shell may comprise a groove provided at a front lower portion of a rigid toe-cup of the soft portion, capable of cooperating by nesting with a corresponding baffle obtained within the front portion of the band of the hard cradle, thus making it possible to obtain a perfect transmission between the two portions, and a second fixing mechanism arranged in the heel zone and inserted between the sole called the rigid insole of the soft portion and the sole of the hard cradle.
An internal wedging element made of an elastically deformable material may be arranged at the bottom of the hard cradle, in the heel area, to constitute both a shock-absorbing device and a device to adjust an inclination of the user's foot relative to the ground, by inducing a difference in height &Dgr;h between the support plane of the heel of the foot and its plantar support plane in the area of the metatarsal bones.
The second fixing mechanism for fixing the soft portion on the hard cradle in the heel zone may comprise a screw extending through a hole punched in the heel zone of the sole of the hard cradle, said hole being made to coincide with a corresponding hole extending through the wedging element, such that the screw can be screwed, during the assembly, in a threaded blind barrel that is integral with the rigid sole, called the insole, of the soft portion, to obtain a unidirectional linkage allowing a relative top down vertical movement between the soft portion and the hard cradle, as a function of the level of compression of the shock absorbing element, without allowing any separation of one portion from the other.
The attachment by nesting of the soft portion on the rigid cradle may be secured by a screw-nut assembly extending through two smooth bores obtained in correspondence with one another in the sole of the hard cradle and in the rigid sole, called the insole, of the soft portion, in the zone of the metatarsal bones, respectively.
The invention provides for a skate comprising a chassis supporting a gliding element for practicing aggressive skating, the chassis including an upwardly facing support plate. A boot fitting portion including a soft upper portion and a rigid sole is included. A hard cradle is adapted to receive the boot fitting portion and having at least a partially open front portion. The hard cradle comprises a heel stiffener portion, a sole, and a lateral peripheral band bordering a front portion and side portions of the sole. The sole of the hard cradle is adapted to be fixed on the chassis. An internal wedging element comprises an elastically deformable material. The internal
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
McClellan James S.
Salomon S.A.
Swann J. J.
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