CA1114413A - Device for clamping a skate blade unit to the sole of a skating boot - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT
A device for clamping to the sole of a skating boot a skate blade fixed to a blade carrier having projecting supports with shaped ends fitting associated sole and heel portions of the boot, these supports being hollow and having central threaded bosses at the bottom, said device comprising a pair of metal plates within the skating boot in overlying positions to the sole and heel portions of said boot and screws passed through openings formed in the metal plates and in the sole and heel portions of the boot and screwed in the projecting supports of the blade carrier thereby said metal plates are elastically deformed.

-- ~ _

Description

The present invention relates to a device ~or clamping a skate blade unit to the sole oP a skating boot, the said skate blade unit consisting essentially oP a blade, ~ixed longitudinally to an elonga~e blade carrier having at least two supports the Free ends o~ which arle Eormed as shaped blades intended to be secured respectively to a sole por~ion and to a heel portion oE a skating boot, The ~ade carrier may be oF metal, in which case the blade can be..secured to it by means oF welding Qr other metal ~ixing technique~ or else, more usually, it may be made Prom a suitable plastics material, in which case the ~ade is partially embedded into the carrier by means oP known plastics moulding techniquesO
In order to be able to manuPacture skates ~hich give satisfactory per~ormance it is necessary ~or the attachment o~ the blade of the above mentioned blade carrier to the re spective sole or heel portions o$ the skating boot to be 50 made as to be able to withstand entirely, ~or an indePinite period, the considerable and unpredictable stresseg genera=
ted on the attachment during skating, In known constructions this attachmenthas previously been made by means o~ riveting with a number o~ boits or ri vets which are ~irst inserted through corresponding holes made respectively in the sole and heel portions of the boot and in the plates o~ the blade carrier.
. Rivetted attachments o~ this type, apart from requiring

- 2 -', ' ' ': , ' , ' special -tools and skilled opera-tors, also involve a series of rather time consuming operations to be performed to join the boot and skate blade unit. Special tools and skilled personnel are also required to separate the skate blade unit from the boot in the event of replacement of the blade unit or the boot itself being necessary.
In addition to these disadvantages, the known rivetted attachment does not allow any possibility of adjustmenk o~ the orientation of the skate blade in relation to the boot by the user, this being something which is useful for adapting the skate in the best way possible to the anatomical characteristics of the user and the type of ska~ing exercises to be undertaken.
The technical problem which this invention seeks to solve is therefore that of providing a device for clamping a blade unit to a boot, having structural and functional characteristics such as will o~ercome the prior art disadvantages reerred to ahove.
This technical problem is solved, according to the present invention, by apparatus for securing a skate blade unit to a skate boot, the skate blade unit including a blade fixed longitudinally to an elongated blade carrier ha~ing at least two supports thereon, the free end of one support being formed as a shaped plate adapted to be secured to the sole portion of the boot and the free end o~ the other support being formed as a shaped plate adapted to be secured to the heel portion of the boot, the apparatus comprising: first and second metal plates adapted to fit with:in the boot in overlying relation to the sole portion and the heel portion respectively; and elongated screw means for clamping the ~etal plates, the sole and heel portions

3 -and the shaped plates toge-ther, with elastic deformation of the metal plates.
According to an embodiment of this invention the elongated screw means are scr~s or threaded bolts engaged throught openings provided in the me~al plates and in the sole and heel portions, and screwed in the blade carrier of the skate blade unit.
According to a further embodiment of this invention, the openings in the plates and in the sole and heel po~tions of the boot are in the form of elongate slots extending tran~-versel~ with respect to the length of the skate blade.
The main advantage attained by the invention lies in the fact that clamping of a skate blade unit to a skating boot, making a very rigid secure connection, is carried out by means of a simple and rapid operation of screwing in two or more screws or bolts after having placed inside the boot suitable plates in overlying positions to the sole and heel portions of the boot. Secure rigid connection is ensured by a synergistic action of screwing the scre~s or bolts into the blade unit and of elastic deformation of the metal plates. Such a clamping can therefore be carried out directly by the user who can easily, when desired, set about replacing the boot or the blade unit without having to resort to employing skilled personnel or to use special tools. Moveover in embodiments in which the holes are transverse slots the user can easil~ adjust the or~entation of the blade in relation to the boot until a desired portion has been reached, conforming to hîs own anatomical characteri-: '~', ~. :

. . . .

:: ~ : : . , ~-- , , -stics and to the current or intended use o~ the skate, These transverse slots may have diEEering plan Eorms, for example they may be rectilinear or curved in accordance with the likely adjustment to be made in the orientation between the . boot and skate blade unitO
Further characteristics and advantages oE the invention will become apparent Prom a consideration oP the following description oE various embodiments oP ~he invention, provi ded purely by way oE non-limiting example, and in which re ~0 Eerence is made to the accompaning drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a partly sectioned side view oE an ice skate having a skate blade unit and skating boot attached together in accordance w;th the teaching oE this invention;
Figure 2 is a partially sectioned perspecti~e view oE ~he ice skate o Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a partially sectioned side view oE a second embodiment oE the invention;
Figure 4 is diagrammatic plan view showing various di~=
Perent related positions in which the skate blade unit can be located in relation to the boot, and which can be obtained by means of the clamping arrangement illustrated in Figures 1 to 3;
Figure 5 is partly sectioned side view oE a blade unit oÆ a ~urther embodiment oE the invention; and Figure 6 is a partly sectioned perspective ~iew o~ an .

. - _ 5 _ .

: . . . ; .

ice skate ~ormed as yet a further embodiment oP the inven=
tion~
ReEerring to Figures 1 and 2; there i5 shown an ice skate 1 comprising a blade unit 2 and a boot 3, in which ~ the blade unit comprises a blade carrier 4 molded in a known way Prom a suitable plastics materialf and a blade 5 : partially embedded into the carrier 4 during the molding by which the carrier 4 is formed. Projecting upwardly Prom the carrier 4 there are three supports 6,7 and 8, oP which ; 10 the Pront or forward support 6 is solid whilst the intermedia te and rear support 7 and 8 are hollow. The Porward and inter mediate support 6,7 have a common plate 9 joining their upper ends; this plate 9 has a suitable thicXness and a plan Eorm and cross-sectional shape which is substantially the same as that of the sole portion 10 of a boot 3 to which it is intended to be attached~ The top o~ the hollow rear support 8 has a ~lan ged edge ~ also having a suitable thickness and a plan Porm and cross-sectional shape substantially the same as that oP the heel portion 12 oP the boot 3.
On the inside of the boot 3, and overlying the sole portion 10, there a metal plate 13, o~ suitable thickness and oP a shape ; which substantially conPorms to the shape oP the said sole por-tion 10. This plate has a pair o~ holes 14, 15 (see Figure 2), through which, upon assembly, pass respective screws 16, 17 which serve for connecting the Porward end oP the skate blade ~; ,, j . .

:.

. .
. .

.- , . . . . . ... . . ..

unit 2 to ~he boot 3 as will be described in greater detail below. A second metal plate 18 is located within the boot 3 above the heel portion 12 and has substantially the same plan ~orm shape as thisO A hole 19 passes through the metal plate 18, through which hole passes a screw 20 which serves' ~or connecting the rear portion oP the skate blade unit 2 to the boot 3.
In the embodiment o~ Figures 1 and 2 the hole 15 of the metal plate 13 and the hole 19 o~ the metal plate 18 are aligned with corresponding holes 15a, 19a, in the sole portion 10 and the heel portion 12 respectively oP the boot 3, these in turn being aligned one with the axis of the hollow inter=
mediate support 7 and the other with the axis o~ the hollow rear support 8. Upwardly ~rom the bottom o~ these hollow sup ports 7 and 8 there project respective hollow threaded bosses 21, 22 9 into which the screws 17 and 20 are screwed ~pon assembly. A ~urther screw 16 is screwed into the thickness o~ the plate 9 and is locked in place by a nut 23~
As shown in Figure 3, ~or the purpose oP increasing the tearing resistance of the screws 17 and 20 ~rom the respective bosses 21~ 22, there embedded in the latter, as shown in Fig.
3, a ~langed nut 24. In thi~ embodiment the bosses 21 and 22 have plain axial holes 21a ~or receiving the screws 17 and 20, : The very secure connection o~ the skate blade unit 2 to the boot 3 is ensured by the synergistic action o~ the screws .

' , . .
' , 16, 17 and 20 screwed into the chosen plastlcs material ~rom which the carrier 4 is made9 and o~ the elastic de~ormation of the metal plates13 and 18, which are prePerably made oP
steel, which firmly grip the sole portion 10 and the heel portion 12 o~ the boot 3 against the p:Late 9 and 11 Pormed as the upper part o~ the blade carrier 40 In the embodiment illustrated diagrammatically in Pigure

4, the holes ~ormed in the metal plates 13, 18 and those Pormed in the sole and heel portions 10,12 respectively, are made in 0 the shape o curved slots 2S, 26 and 27 respectively In par=
ticular the slots 25, 26 in the forward metal plate 13 and the Eorwara part oP the sole portion 10 are convex towards the toe oP the boot whilst the slot 27 in the rear plate 18 and the - heel oP the boot are convex towards the heel end o~ the boot~
By means o~ these ~pecially shaped holes it is possible Por the user to vary the orient~ion and position oP the blade 2 and support 4 o~ the ice skate in relation to the boot 3, as in diagrammatically illustrated by the broken lines in Figure 4. This possibility is especially useul ~since the skate can now be adapted to the type oP sporting-"exercise" which the user intends to per~orm, thus achieving an optimal eEficiency which was not possible with skates o known construction, Obviously the above mentioned curved slots can be made in di~ferent numbers and with.diPPerent shapes rom those il ~25 lustrated, in order to obtain di~erent orientations oP the : .
~ 8 -' boot 3 in relation to the blade unit 2~ Thus~ Por example, the slots may be rectilinear , or those in the sole portion 10 and the metal plate 13 may be curved whi~t in the heel portion 12 and its associated metal plate 18 there may be made respective cicular holes rather than slotsO
In Figure 5 there is illustrated a ~urther embodiment oP this invention, which has a blade carrier 104 in which there is ~ormed, at the Pront~ a hollow support 107 oE larger dimensions than those o~ the corresponding Eorward suppor~ 7 in the previous embodiment; the upper opening oP this ~orward suppor~ is surrounded by a peripheral Elange 109 the shape and dimension o~ which are such it constitutes a bearing Eor the sole portion o~ the boot 3. Within the hollow support 107 there are ~ormed two bos~es 121, 221, into which it is inten=
ded ~or two screws (not illustrated) to be screwed, for the purpose o~ gripping the ~ront metal plate 13 and the sole por tion of the boot 3 to the blade carrier 104. It is advantageous Eor there to be embedded in at least one oP the said bosses 121, 221, a Elanged nut 123 to improve the security o~ the screwed connection.
In the ~inal embodiment illustrated in Fi~ure 6, the boot 3 is provided with a single metal plate 124 extending Erom the ~ront to the rear and having a ~orward portion 113 and a rear 118 shaped to cooperate with the respective sole portion 10 and heel portion 12 o~ the said boot.
.
g_ ~ . . . .. .
., .

~ . , .

Claims (5)

1. THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
   PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
   
   l. Apparatus for securing a skate blade unit to a skate boot, the skate blade unit including a blade fixed longitudinally to an elongated blade carrier having at least two supports thereon, the free end of one support being formed as a shaped plate adapted to be secured to the sole portion of the boot and the free end of the other support being formed as a shaped plate adapted to be secured to the heel portion of the boot, said apparatus comprising:
   first and second metal metal plates adapted to fit within the boot in overlying relation to the sole portion and the heel portion respectively;
   and elongated screw means for clamping said metal plates, said sole and heel portions and said shaped plates together,r with elastic deformation of said metal plates.
2. 2. Apparatus according to claim l, wherein said elon-gated screw means are screws engaged through openings provided in the metal plates and in the sole and heel portions respectively, and screw into the blade carrier of the skate blade unit.
3. 3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said openings in the metal plates and in the sole and heel portions of the boot are in the form of elongated slots extending transversely with respect to the length of the skate blade.
4. 4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein at least two of said screws engaged through said openings of said metal plates and said sole and heel portions, are axailly screwed into said supports of the blade carrier.
5. 5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said supports are hollow and are internally provided with bosses in which said two screws are engaged.