EP0775508A1

EP0775508A1 - Mobile structure for a roller skate

Info

Publication number: EP0775508A1
Application number: EP96203250A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Robert D. Harr; Peter Knights
Original assignee: Tecnica SpA
Current assignee: Tecnica SpA
Priority date: 1995-11-23
Filing date: 1996-11-20
Publication date: 1997-05-28
Also published as: ITTV950144A0; IT1279477B1; JPH09168628A; ITTV950144A1

Abstract

A roller skate comprising a series of rollers (10) which are substantially aligned along the longitudinal axis thereof is described. Each of the rollers (10) is supported in such a manner that it can rotate freely by a frame (14) which is secured to the sole of a footwear part (16). The skate provides that at least one end roller (10) of the series of rollers (10) is articulated to the frame (14) with the interposition of resilient means (28).

Description

The present invention relates to roller skates of the so-called in-line roller type and more especially to an improvement in the structure of these skates which can eliminate the transmission of bumps and vibrations generally to the skater's lower limbs and can facilitate the manoeuvrability of the skate.
Naturally, the invention is not limited to this type of skate but can also be used in conventional skates having two pairs of wheels and also similar sports equipment. Therefore the term "rollers" characterises the rolling elements of the skate.
In recent years, roller skates having a certain number of rollers (usually three, four or five) aligned along the longitudinal axis of the skate have become increasingly widespread, which is why the similarity to bladed skates used for ice skating has become more marked.
It is not necessary where to underline the differences in performance which distinguish this form of roller skate, the structure of which basically comprises a shoe or ankle boot of which the sole is secured to a roller-carrying frame to which, in their turn, the skate rollers are applied in such a manner that they can rotate freely. Optionally a front or rear rubber pad brake is provided.
Given that skate rollers can only rotate on the roller-carrying frame but otherwise cannot perform movements relative thereto, a substantially rigid structure is created with the result that any irregularity in the running surface leads to stress which is transmitted directly to the skater's foot and thus to his lower limb.
It should be noted that the practice of skating with this type of skate imposes more fatigue and strain on the skater since a specific effort for maintaining balance, comparable to that required for ice skating, is added to the usual effort necessary to advance and manoeuvre.
When the ground or running surface has a large number of irregularities or areas of roughness, even if of minimum dimensions, the running of the skate is obstructed or its advance is no longer uniform. The overall effect on the skate, and thus on the skater's limb in these conditions, consists in vibrations, the frequency of which may be high. The vibrations in turn lead to substantial tiring of the skater's lower limbs which are already subjected to not inconsiderable strain for the reasons explained above.
Especially from the point of view of ease of execution of manoeuvres and turns of small radius, the presence of four or five wheels in a line makes it necessary to execute the turns or changes of direction with a large radius. This problem has previously been solved by lowering the pivot shaft of the central wheels which are acted upon in the turning stage.
Otherwise it is necessary to reduce the number of wheels to three, with the obvious disadvantages. The main aim of the present invention is substantially to solve the problems and disadvantages mentioned briefly above, especially by, providing an in-line roller skate equipped with means capable of preventing bumps and vibrations, generally caused by the running of the rollers on the running surface, from being transmitted to any substantial extent to the shoe and thus to the skater's lower limb.
Another aim of the present invention is to provide a roller skate of the type in question in which the above-mentioned means prevent the transmission of bumps and/or vibrations because they render the structure of the skate "adaptable" to the configuration of the ground as will be explained more clearly in the course of the present description. In practice, this "adaptability" entails an absorption of bumps and/or vibrations. Asserted that the advance of the skate on uneven ground takes place as if the latter were substantially smooth.
Another aim of the present invention is to produce an in-line roller skate in which the presence of the means of absorbing vibrations and bumps improve the performance of the skate, especially as regards manoeuvrability and turning capacity. Yet another aim of the present invention is to produce an in-line roller skate provided with the above-mentioned means, the manufacture and repair of which are simple and industrially advantageous.
These aims are substantially achieved with the in-line roller skate according to the present invention of the type comprising a shoe or ankle boot, provided with a sole, a roller-carrying frame having an upper surface secured rigidly to the lower face of the sole, and in-line rollers which are aligned along the longitudinal axis of the skate and are mounted on the frame by means of hubs in such a manner that they can rotate freely, the skate being characterised in that at least one end roller of the series of rollers is articulated to the frame with the interposition of resilient means.
The features and advantages of the skate according to the present invention will become clear from the following detailed description of one of its non-limiting embodiments given with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of the roller skate according to the present invention in a first operative state;
Figure 2 is a side view of the roller skate according to the present invention in a second operative state;
Figure 3 is a partial diagrammatic view in longitudinal section and on an enlarged scale of only the front portion of the roller-carrying frame in the first operative state;
Figure 4 is a partial diagrammatic view in longitudinal section and on an enlarged scale of only the front portion of the roller-carrying frame in the second operative state;
Figure 5 is a partial diagrammatic plan view on an enlarged scale of only the front portion of the roller-carrying frame;
Figure 6 is a view analogous to Figure 3 of a first variant of the skate according to the invention;
Figure 7 is a partial diagrammatic plan view on an enlarged scale of only the front portion of the roller-carrying frame;
Figure 8 is a diagrammatic view in longitudinal section of a second variant of the skate according to the invention; and
Figure 9 is a diagrammatic plan view of the variant of the skate of Figure 8.

Referring first of all especially to Figures 1 and 2, it can be seen that the skate according to the present invention comprises a series of rollers, each of which is indicated by the reference numeral 10 and which are arranged in a line, that is to say, they are substantially aligned along the longitudinal axis of the skate which, in the embodiment in question, comprises by examples only four rollers 10, the invention being likewise applicable to the ease of in line skates with five rollers.
Each of the rollers 10 is carried in such a manner that it can rotate freely by a hub or shaft of rotation 12, the ends of which are secured to a support frame or roller-carrying frame 14 which is rendered integral in any known manner (not shown) with a footwear part of the ankle boot type generally indicated by the reference numeral 16.
The footwear part 16 is shown partially and is not described in detail because it is known per se, while the only detailed description of the roller-carrying frame 14 will be that relating to the improvement forming the subject-matter of the present invention.
To be more precise, the above-mentioned improvement, in the embodiment in question, resides in the fact that the roller 10 either at the front or at the rear end has been articulated to the frame 14 with the interposition of resilient means.
A detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention will now be given with reference to Figures 1 to 5. Purely for the sake of simplicity and clarity, the rollers 10 have not been shown in Figures 3 to 5.
The front roller 10 is, like the others, supported by a hub or shaft of rotation 12 which is not secured to the roller-carrying frame 14 but to the longitudinally extending side walls 18, 20 of a support arm 22 which are shown more clearly in Figure 5.
The support arm 22 is carried in such a manner that it can rotate freely, in the vicinity of the rear side 24 of the walls 18, 20, by a transverse shaft 26 secured at the ends to the roller-carrying frame 14 in such a manner that the arm 22 can rotate in a longitudinal plane of the skate, thus enabling the front end roller 10 to be raised and lowered when necessary and as will be explained hereinafter.
According to one of the main features of the present invention, resilient means generally indicated at 28 are interposed between the support arm 22 of the front roller 10 and the roller-carrying frame 14 and, in the first embodiment illustrated in more detail in Figures 3 and 4, are formed by an insert or strip 30 of resilient material, such as rubber or the like.
As will be appreciated from the above Figures, the insert or strip 30 is secured in any known manner, for example by adhesive bonding, to a tailpiece 32 which extends vertically downwards from the plane 34 of the roller-carrying frame 14 on which the toe of the footwear part 16 rests. Both the tailpiece 32 and consequently the resilient strip 30 are of a width equal to that of the roller-carrying frame 14.
Referring especially to Figures 3 to 5, it can be seen that the side walls 18, 20 of the support arm 22 are connected to one another at the top by a bridge element 36 which has a cross-section substantially in the shape of a U turned upwards, thus delimiting a transverse groove 38 into which the lower ends of the tailpiece 32 and of the resilient strip 30 are introduced. As shown more accurately in Figure 3, the tailpiece 32 is introduced partially into the groove 38 of the bridge element 36 and rests over part of its height, via its rear face, against the upper portion of one of the sides of the bridge 36.
The resilient strip 30, on the other hand, is introduced completely into the groove 38 as far as the base thereof and engages with the internal free of the other side of the bridge 36.
In addition, the plane 34 of the roller-carrying frame 14 is interrupted in the area of the tailpiece 32, leaving free a passage 40 into which the upper end of the resilient strip 30 is introduced.
As already stated above, Figures 3 and 4 illustrate two operative states of the front end roller 10 and thus of the support arm 22 thereof.
In Figure 3, which illustrates the rest state of the skate, that is to say, the state of running on smooth ground, also referring to Figure 1, it can be seen that the front end roller 10 rests on the ground and is at the same level as the remaining rollers 10. The support arm 22 is not stressed or rotated because the resilient strip 30 is not stressed and is in the rest state.
Referring now to Figures 2 and 4, if the skater encounters an area of roughness on the ground, the front end roller 10 is lifted, causing simultaneous anticlockwise rotation of the support arm 22 which therefore moves into the position shown in Figure 4. In this state, the front branch of the bridge element 36 presses on the resilient strip 30 and compresses it, while at the same time its rear side becomes detached from the tailpiece 32. The overall height of the support arm 22 is such as to permit the above-mentioned rotation.
In view of the above, it is clear that if there are areas of roughness on the ground, even in substantial number, the front end roller 10 will be moved into the state of Figures 2 and 4 each time the skate encounters an area of roughness.
It is also clear that, once the above-mentioned roughness has been traversed, the support arm 22 is returned to the state of Figures 1 and 3 by the action of the resilient strip 30 which thus reassumes its initial rest configuration, returning the support arm 22 to the position in which the front end roller 10 returns to rest on the ground at the same level as the other rollers 10.
An important advantageous feature of the structure of the present invention is that if the user applies a pressure onto the front end roller 10 (for instance by suitably forwardly inclining the user's foot) the roller skate becomes supported only on the two center rollers thus achieving by different means the same condition normally provided by' the so-called rockering means and thus the related advantages.
An advantageous first variant of the skate according to the invention is that shown in Figures 6 and 7 in which the same elements of the processing Figures are indicated with the same reference numerals. The above Figures show that, in this variant, in addition to the resilient strip 30 of the first embodiment, a second resilient strip 42 is provided which is applied to the rear face of the tailpiece 32 and engages with the rear side of the groove 38 of the bridge 36.
The provision of the two resilient strips 30 and 42 applied to the front and rear faces of the tailpiece 32 is advantageous because while on the one hand the front resilient strip 30 has the task explained above of permitting the lifting of the front end roller 10, the rear strip 42 prevents the rear side of the bridge 36 from knocking against the tailpiece 32, especially as a result of substantial ground roughness, in the course of returning to the rest position of the support arm 22.
The above clearly shows the advantages of articulating the front end roller 10 resiliently to the frame 14 because the articulation enables the skate to be insensitive to or to absorb the stresses resulting from the roughness of the ground.
According to another advantageous variant of the skate according to the invention, the roller 10 at the rear end thereof is also resiliently articulated in order further to increase the advantages achieved by the articulation of the front end roller 10.
This second variant is shown diagrammatically in Figures 8 and 9 but is not described in detail because the resilient articulation of the rear end roller 10 of the skate can be achieved in a manner substantially identical to the articulation of the front end roller 10 as described above for both embodiments. Therefore, in Figures 8 and 9, the same elements of the preceding Figures are indicated with the same reference numerals. It is necessary only to point out that this variant is illustrated in the embodiment with a single insert of resilient material and, while the front end roller 10 of the skate is in the raised position, the rear end roller 10 is lowered.
It is worth to notice that the articulation arrangement of either the front and/or the rear roller 10 can be applied to the first two rollers, either in the front or in the rear part of the skate, for instance in the case of a five roller skate.
Finally, it will be appreciated that variants and/or modifications which are equivalent in structure and design may be applied to the roller skate according to the present invention without thereby departing from the scope of protection thereof..
For example, it would be possible to provide other types of resilient means interposed between the support arm 22 and the roller-carrying frame 14, such as, for example, resilient means which act on the pivot shaft 26 of the arm 22 and which permit the rotation of the arm 22 in order to raise the front (or rear) end roller 10 and which cause the arm 22 to return to the rest state.
These resilient means may be formed, for example, by a torsion spring having one end engaged with the roller-carrying frame 14 and the other engaged with the pivot shaft 26.

Claims

In-line roller skate of the type comprising a shoe or ankle boot (16), provided with a sole, a roller-carrying frame (14) having an upper surface secured rigidly to the lower face of the sole, and in-line rollers (10) which are aligned along the longitudinal axis of the skate and are mounted on the frame (14) by means of hubs (12) in such a manner that they can rotate freely, the skate being characterised in that at least one end roller of the series of rollers (10) is articulated to the frame (14) with the interposition of resilient means (28).
Roller skate according to Claim 1, characterised in that the resilient means (28) are formed by an insert (30) of resilient material interposed between a portion (36) of a support arm (22) of the front end roller (10) and the roller-carrying frame (14), the support arm (22) being hinged to the frame (14).
Roller skate according to Claim 2, characterised in that the support arm (22) is formed substantially by a pair of substantially parallel longitudinally extending walls (18, 20) which support, at their front end, a running roller (10), while they are pivoted on the roller-carrying frame (14) in the area of their rear side (24).
Roller skate according to Claim 3, characterised in that the walls (18, 20) of the support arm (22) are connected to one another at the top by a bridge element (36) having an upwardly turned transverse groove (38) into which a portion (32) of the frame (14) and the resilient means (30) are introduced.
Roller skate according to Claim 4, characterised in that said portion (32) of the frame (14) is formed by a tailpiece of the plane (34) on which rests the toe of the footwear part (16), which tailpiece is folded vertically downwards, while the resilient means (28) are formed substantially by at least one strip of resilient material (30) secured to one face of the tailpiece (32), the other face of which engages, in the rest state, with one of the sides of the bridge element (36).
Roller skate according to Claim 5, characterised in that the tailpiece (32) is introduced partially into the groove (38) of the bridge element (36), while the strip of resilient material (30) is introduced into the groove (38) as far as the base thereof.
Roller skate according to Claim 5, characterised in that the plane (34) on which the sole of the footwear part (16) rests has, in the area of the tailpiece (32), an interruption (40) into which the upper end of the strip of resilient material (30) is introduced.
Roller skate according to Claim 6, characterised in that the strip (30) of resilient material cooperates with the side of the groove (38) of the bridge element (36) opposite that with which the tailpiece (32) cooperates.
Roller skate according to Claim 8, characterised in that the strip (30) of resilient material permits, by compression, an anticlockwise rotation of the support arm (22) with the consequent lifting of the front end roller (10).
Roller skate according to Claim 9, characterised in that the support arm (22) is returned to the initial rest position owing to the resilient pushing action on the bridge element (36) performed by the strip (30) of resilient material.
Roller skate according to Claim 5, characterised in that a strip (30) of resilient material and also a strip (42) likewise of resilient material are provided which are applied to each of the opposite faces of the tailpiece (32), the strips (30, 42) cooperating with the opposing sides of the groove (38) of the bridge element (36).
Roller skate according to Claim 1, characterised in that the at least one end roller (10) of the series of rollers (10) resiliently articulated to the frame (14) is the front end roller of the skate.
Roller skate according to Claim 1, characterised in that the front and rear end rollers (10) are articulated resiliently to the frame (14).
Roller skate according to Claim 1, characterised in that the resilient means (28) interposed between the roller-carrying frame (14) and the at least one end roller of the series of rollers (10) cooperate with a pivot shaft (26) of a support arm (22) of the at least one end roller (10), which arm can rotate freely on the pivot shaft (26).
Roller skate according to Claim 14, characterised in that the resilient means (28) are formed by a torsion spring having one end engaged with the roller-carrying frame (14) and the other end engaged with the pivot shaft (26).