CA2621297A1 - Ice skate sharpening apparatus for speed skates with curved blades - Google Patents

Ice skate sharpening apparatus for speed skates with curved blades Download PDF

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Publication number
CA2621297A1
CA2621297A1 CA 2621297 CA2621297A CA2621297A1 CA 2621297 A1 CA2621297 A1 CA 2621297A1 CA 2621297 CA2621297 CA 2621297 CA 2621297 A CA2621297 A CA 2621297A CA 2621297 A1 CA2621297 A1 CA 2621297A1
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CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
blade
clamp
skate
pivot
sharpening
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
CA 2621297
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Marty Medina
Jerry Whitmer
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Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Publication of CA2621297A1 publication Critical patent/CA2621297A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

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Abstract

An ice skate sharpening apparatus comprising a frame and a pair of opposed pivotal clamp heads movable by opposed jaws which are adjustably moved to tighten the blade therebetween. The clamp head holds a skate blade without imposing a bending force on or moment to the blade. This is achieved by closing the clamp jaws on either side of the blade through a single line of contact.

Description

ICE SKATE SHARPENING APPARATUS FOR SPEED SKATES WITH CURVED
BLADES
Background & Summary of the Invention Disclosed herein is an ice skate blade sharpening apparatus for speed skates with curved blades that will prevent disrupting or altering the curve of the blade during sharpening.

The curved speed skate blade was first introduced in 1993 (patent 5,320,368).
Speed skate racing is done with turns only in the counter-clockwise direction.
Skate boots and blades for some events are adjusted to take advantage of this fact.
Blades are mounted on boots with an offset to the left and some blades are positioned to the left in their support structure.

Blades of expert skaters are also bent to the left. Bending is done with mallet, vise or tool until the blade "looks right" or "feels right". The toe of the blade may be bent so the blade turns more sharply when a skater's weight moves forward. The heel of the blade may be bent so the blade turns more sharply when the skater's weight moves back. The whole blade may be bent in a smooth arc for increased ice contact and stability.

Speed skate blades are sharpened by hand. They are placed into a sharpening apparatus with the bottoms of the blades facing upwards and clamped parallel with each other along their length. No speed skate sharpening apparatus accommodates the new curved speed skate blade that has been available since 1993.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a new sharpening apparatus with two blades clamped in a manner that prevents the disruption of the curve in, or straightening, the blade.

Previous sharpening apparatus' use flat clamping jaws that un-curve or straighten the speed skate while sharpening. Fig. 2 shows a prior-art table style sharpening apparatus with flat clamping jaws; Fig. 3 shows prior-art frame style sharpening apparatus with flat clamping jaws. FIG. 4 shows a diagram of how a curved blade is straightened during sharpening with flat clamping jaws and the arrows indicate the direction of the force applied to the curved skate blade.

When straightening of the curve of the blade occurs during sharpening, the curve of the blade will change. After several sharpenings, the blades curve will have changed so much that the blades will have to be re-curved to get back to the original curved configuration.

The sharpening apparatus described herein has heads on the jaws of the clamps, which pivot in a generally horizontal plane and relative to the clamping jaws. These pivoting heads pivot to align with the curve of the blade during sharpening thereby leaving the curve undisrupted during sharpening. FIG. 5 shows a diagram of how a curved blade is clamped with its curve undisrupted when clamped in the present invention with jaws that have pivoting heads. The advantages to maintaining the curve of the blade during and after sharpening is the skater will have the same "feel" when skating on the blades after sharpening as before sharpening, and the blades will not have to be re-curved after sharpening.
The present invention:

will prevent disrupting the curve of speed skate blades during sharpening;

will prevent blades from having to be re-curving after sharpening;
comprises parts made from computer numerical control machining for maximum accuracy is made from solid components (e.g. metals) as opposed to hollow components, thereby providing more stability while sharpening Brief Description of Drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective drawing of two speed skate blades clamped in the sharpening frame in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a prior-art table style speed skate sharpening apparatus with flat clamping jaws.
Fig. 3 is a prior-art frame style speed skate sharpening apparatus with flat clamping jaws.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing how curved blades are straightened when clamped with flat clamping jaws.

Fig.5 is a diagram showing how curved blades remain curved when clamped with clamps that adjust to the curve of the blade as with my clamping jaws with pivoting heads.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a fully assembled speed skate sharpening apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 7 is a close-up view of the clamping jaws with pivoting heads.

Fig. 8 is a close-up exploded view of the clamping jaws with pivoting heads.
Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the sharpening apparatus demonstrating the motion of a sharpening stone during the sharpening process.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of clamping jaw 1 with female pivoting head 2 held in place with a vertical pin 3 allowing female pivoting head 2 to pivot horizontally relative to clamping jaw 1.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of clamping jaw 1 with male pivoting head 2 held in place with a vertical pin 3 allowing male pivoting head 2 to pivot horizontally relative to clamping jaw 1.

Fig 12 is a perspective view and an exploded view of clamping jaw 1 with adjustable head 2 and adjustable head 3 inserted into the housing of clamping jaw 1. Adjustable head 2 and adjustable head 3 offset each other using ball bearings 4.

Fig 13 is a perspective view and an exploded view of clamping jaw 1 with adjustable head 2 and adjustable head 3 inserted into the housing of clamping jaw 1. Adjustable head 2 and adjustable head 3 offset each other using hydraulic chamber 4.
Fig 14 is a perspective view and an exploded view of clamping jaw 1 with adjustable head 2 and adjustable head 3 inserted into the housing of clamping jaw 1. Adjustable head 2 and adjustable head 3 adjust independently using springs 4.

Fig 15 is a perspective view of clamping jaw 1 with pivoting head 2 secured to clamping jaw 1 with flexible connector 3. The flexibility of flexible connector 3 allows pivoting head 2 to pivot horizontally relative to clamping jaw 1.

Fig. 16 is a perspective view of clamping jaw with a rounded head. The rounded head will have a single point of contact on the surface of the blade to keep the curve of the blade unchanged.

Fig. 17 is a perspective view of outer clamping jaw 1 secured to inner clamping jaw 2 with horizontal pin 4. Inner clamping jaw 2 is secured to main housing 3 with vertical pin 5 allowing inner clamping jaw 2 to pivot horizontally relative to main housing 3.

The various embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the invention to those embodiments described. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

The following reference numerals are employed in the figures to indicate the associated elements of the embodiment depicted:

1 front main body clamp housing 2 rear main body clamp housing 3 alignment rod 4 alignment rod leveler screws 5 alignment stop 6 alignment stop set screws 7 outer j aw 8 inner jaw 9 jaw connector pin pivot head vertical 11 pin second pivot 5 12 head 13 second vertical pin 14 jackscrew round knob 16 insert screw Detailed Description The sharpening apparatus is shown in perspective view fully assembled in Fig. 6. A front main body clamp housing 1 is connected to a rear main body clamp housing 2 with an alignment rod 3. Alignment rod 3 aligns and secures front main body clamp housing 1 and rear main body clamp housing 2 properly by tightening the alignment rod leveler screws 4. An alignment stop 5 is attached to front main body clamp housing 1 with the alignment stop set screws 6.

A perspective view of the clamping jaws with pivoting heads is shown FIG. 7.
An exploded view of the clamping jaws with pivoting heads is shown in FIG. 8.
Outer jaw 7 is connected to front main body clamp housing 1 with a j aw connector pin 9. A
pivot head 10 is inserted into outer jaw 7 and held in place with a vertical pin 11 allowing pivot head 10 to pivot horizontally relative to, and against the rear of, the clamp recess the outer jaw 7. A second pivot head 12 is inserted into inner jaw 8 and held in place with a second vertical pin 13 allowing second pivot head 12 to pivot horizontally relative to and against the ear of the clamp recess of the inner jaw 8. A
jackscrew 14 is threaded into the outer jaw 7. A round knob 15 is attached to the jackscrew 14 and secured with an insert screw 16. When round knob 15 is turned clockwise, the top of outer jaw 7 is drawn towards inner jaw 8 bringing pivot head 10 and second pivot head 12 into contact with opposing sides of the speed skate blade.
Pivot head 10 and second pivot head 12 will pivot horizontally to come into full contact with the speed skate blade along the blade's curved surface.

The ice skate sharpening apparatus for speed skates with curved blades achieves its results as follows:

Two speed skate blades are inserted into the sharpening apparatus with the bottoms of the blades facing upwards and are set parallel with each other along their length as seen in Fig. 1.

As shown in Fig. 7, when round knob 15 is turned clockwise, outer jaw 7 will come in contact with one side of the blade and push the blade towards inner jaw 8.
Pivot head 10 and second pivot head 12 will pivot or slide in a generally horizontal plane and relative to outer jaw 8 and inner jaw 10 to conform to the curved radius of the blade. This process is repeated for the other 3 clamping jaws with pivoting heads.

A flat sharpening stone is moved across the blades at the same time and flattens the bottoms of the blades. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the sharpening apparatus with two blades clamped parallel and a sharpening stone on top of the blades. The arrows indicate the direction the stone is moved to flatten the bottoms of the blades.

Unlike a hockey skate blade or a figure skate blade, which have a hollow on the bottom of the blade, a speed skate blade has a flat bottom with sharp 90-degree corners on the inner edge and the outer edge of the blade. The achieved result is that the curve of the blade remains unchanged during the sharpening process.

Various alternative embodiments of the clamping mechanisms are depicted in Figs. 10 - 17 which are generally described below:

The clamping jaw and the pivoting head of the clamping jaw can be configured to prevent disrupting the curve of the blade in different ways.
Below is a listing of some of these different ways with accompanying diagrams:

Female pivoting head supported with a vertical pin through a male support, Fig. 10.
Male pivoting head supported with a vertical pin through a female support, Fig. 11 Two heads on a single jaw of the clamp that offset each other using ball bearings, Fig. 12 Two heads on a single jaw of the clamp that offset each other using hydraulics, Fig. 13 Two heads on a single jaw of the clamp that offset each other using springs, Fig. 14 A pivoting head on the jaw of the clamp with a flexible connection between the pivoting head and the jaw allowing the head to pivot horizontally, Fig. 15 A preformed radius on the head of the jaw of the clamp with no mechanics Fig. 16 A clamp with flat jaws where the whole clamping mechanism pivots horizontally along the main support of the sharpening apparatus, Fig 17 The pivot heads and the end of the jaws can be surfaced with a different material, for example, rubber, cloth, or plastic so as not to mar or damage the skate blades.

The pivot heads and the ends of the jaws can be various sizes and shapes. Different materials, sizes, and interconnections can be used for all components.

Claims

Claims:

A. A clamp head for holding a skate blade without imposing a bending force on said blade, comprising: a pair of opposed clamp pivot heads, said heads held movably by opposed jaws which are adjustably moved to tighten the blade therebetween.

B. An apparatus for holding a speed skate for sharpening, comprising: a frame;
a pivotal clamp head a pair of opposed clamp pivot heads, said heads held movably by opposed jaws which are adjustably moved to tighten the blade therebetween.

C. A method for holding a speed skate for sharpening, comprising: opening clamp jaws; inserting skate;

closing first clamp jaw until a pivot able clamp head engages either side of the blade;
closing second clamp jaw until a pivot able clamp head engages either side of the blade through a single line of contact so as to avoid introducing a bending force upon clamping.

D. A clamp head for holding a skate blade without imposing a bending force on said blade, comprising: a pair of opposed clamp heads, said heads including opposed jaws which are adjustably moved to tighten the blade therebetween without introducing a bending force or moment to the skate blade by clamping.
CA 2621297 2007-02-15 2008-02-14 Ice skate sharpening apparatus for speed skates with curved blades Abandoned CA2621297A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US88995207P 2007-02-15 2007-02-15
US60/889,952 2007-02-15

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA2621297A1 true CA2621297A1 (en) 2008-08-15

Family

ID=39687916

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA 2621297 Abandoned CA2621297A1 (en) 2007-02-15 2008-02-14 Ice skate sharpening apparatus for speed skates with curved blades

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA2621297A1 (en)

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Effective date: 20130214