Land vehicles – Skates – Wheeled skate
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-06
2002-12-24
Johnson, Brian L. (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Skates
Wheeled skate
C280S011208, C280S011260, C280S011270, C280S011201
Reexamination Certificate
active
06497421
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to skating and other apparatus, particularly—but not exclusively—to roller skates, i.e. skates comprising platform means to support a skater, the platform being mounted on a pair of front wheels or rollers and a pair of rear wheels or rollers.
BACKGROUND ART
Although most conventional roller skates have both pairs of wheels continuously capable of free-wheeling in both directions (to permit both forward and rearward skating), trainer roller skates have recently become popular for learners, e.g. children. These trainer roller skates are selectively settable (a) to provide for bi-directional wheel rolling motion, i.e. for forward and rearward skating, and (b) to provide for uni-directional wheel rolling motion, i.e. to inhibit rearward skating. Some trainer roller skates are additionally settable (c) to provide for no wheel rolling motion, i.e. to inhibit both forward and rearward skating.
Examples of such trainer roller skates are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,676 and French Patent No. 2700705. Each has an axle upon which the front wheels are mounted, an axle upon which the rear wheels are mounted, and a fixed spacing between the two axles. Each also has setting means providing for the movement of a member (e.g. a pawl or a lever) in to or out of interference with at least one wheel.
The operation of the roller skates per U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,676 in, for example, state (b) is often noisy due to the ratcheting action required for its pawl. The operation of the roller skates per French No. 2700705 is in practice not wholly satisfactory as the intended frictional engagement between its parts in, for example, state (b) or (c) is sometimes insufficient so that the intended function cannot be wholly relied upon.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With a view to overcoming or at least reducing the above-mentioned and/or other disadvantages of the prior art, the present invention, in one aspect thereof, provides a training roller skate comprising rollers or wheels and mounting means therefor, and further comprising motion inhibiting means for contacting a surface associated with at least one of said wheels to inhibit its rotary motion, characterised in that the mounting means for said at least one wheel is movable (preferably in a direction transverse to the wheel axis) to permit contact between the said wheel associated surface and the motion inhibiting means.
Preferably said mounting means is operably associated with setting means and is constrained in a first position, out of said contact, by setting of the setting means in a first positional setting, a second positional setting of the setting means permitting said contact to occur in use automatically upon a user's attempt to skate backwards.
In one preferred embodiment the trainer roller skate's setting means is additionally settable to a third positional setting in which rotation of the wheels is inhibited in both directions such as to inhibit both forwards skating and rearwards skating.
In one preferred embodiment of the trainer roller skate a platform is provided to support a skater's foot, said mounting means includes a carrier member carrying an axle upon which the said at least one wheel is mounted, and the skate comprises means mounting the carrier member for relative movement with respect to the platform—preferably in a direction transverse to the axis of said axle.
Preferably the setting means includes a rotatably mounted control element having an eccentric cam member engageable with a part of said carrier member such as to position and/or effect location of the axle carrying carrier member as aforesaid.
Advantageously the trainer roller skate comprises first and second motion inhibition means, the first motion inhibition means being engageable by said wheel associated surface when the setting means occupies said second position, and the second motion inhibition means being engageable by one or both said wheels (or a surface thereof) when the setting means occupies said third position.
Preferably the first motion inhibition means comprises a pad of frictional material. The pad may have an arcuate surface engageable by said wheel associated surface, and preferably has two such arcuate surfaces spaced apart laterally of the skate and engageable by surfaces associated with both said wheels.
Advantageously the pad comprises an integral projection directed forwardly of the skate to provide a so-called “toe brake”that can engage the skating surface (e.g. the ground) when in use the skate is tilted.
In one embodiment of the present invention the setting means is operable on the carrier member to position the axle, in said third position, for engagement of said at least one surface by both the first and second motion inhibition means. Preferably, in this case the second motion inhibition means comprises a friction pad.
In an alternative (and preferred) embodiment of the present invention the setting means is operable on the carrier member to position the axle, in said third position, for engagement of said at least one surface by the second motion inhibition means only. Preferably, in this case, the second motion inhibition means comprises a dog tooth clutch arrangement comprising a positionally fixed tooth engageable in one of a plurality of slots provided in the outer surface of a hub of one said wheel.
Advantageously a pair of such dog teeth are provided, one to each side of the trainer roller skates, to be engageable as aforesaid with a hub of each said wheel.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a roller skate comprising
a front shoe part defining a forward platform portion to support a skater's foot and further defining toe cap support means, and
a separately formed toe cap attached (e.g. removably) to said toe cap support means.
Such an arrangement permits toe caps of alternative shapes and forms (e.g. representing cartoon characters) to be selectively attached to the toe cap support means.
Preferably inter-engageable snap-fit means are associated with the toe cap and the toe cap support means to permit their mutual attachment in a snap-fitted manner.
According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a roller skate including
a platform to support a skater's foot,
at least one roller mounted movably with respect to the platform, and
a brake pad of frictional material attached to said platform and engageable by said roller, said brake pad being provided integrally with a projection frictionally to engage the skating surface, e.g. the ground, when the platform is tilted.
Preferably the projection is directed forwardly of the skate to constitute a so-called “toe brake”.
Preferably the skate is a training skate and the brake pad, when engaged by said roller, serves to inhibit rearward motion of the skate. member bestrides this pair of surfaces such that the latter resist laterally inward motion of the fingers and their laterally directed tabs or barbs such as to prevent disengagement of the lock members from the said other carriage.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention there is provided a fastening arrangement (preferably, but not exclusively, for a roller skate—e.g. a training roller skate), the fastening arrangement comprising:
a strap having (preferably between edges of the strap) a plurality of recesses in a major surface of the strap; and
a buckle having a body member in the form of an arched structure through which the strap is to extend and further having a pawl member disposed between said major surface of the strap—when the latter is in the buckle—and a facing wall of the body member, said pawl member having a tip end for entry into any selected one of said recesses,
characterised in that one of said members is provided with a laterally-extending element (e.g. a rib or a wall), and the other of said members is provided with a laterally-extending channel to accommodate the element and define therewith a pivot axis for the pawl member.
In one preferred arrangement the pawl member is molded of p
Edgerley David
Iliffe-Moon Etienne
Avery Bridget
Freiburger Thomas M.
Innovo International Limited
Johnson Brian L.
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