GB2488966A

GB2488966A - Low centre of gravity skate

Info

Publication number: GB2488966A
Application number: GB1100412.4A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Steven Swan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2011-01-11
Filing date: 2011-01-11
Publication date: 2012-09-19
Also published as: EP2521601A1; WO2012095775A1; GB201100412D0; GB201111220D0; CA2787386C; CA2787386A1; GB2487260A; GB2487260B; US20150151185A1

Abstract

Present ice skates have a relatively great distance between the sole and the surface of the blades 40 for contacting the ice in use. This leads to instability. The present invention provides an ice skate comprising a foot retaining means 120, a sole and at least one blade 140, wherein the distance between the blade surface, for contact with ice in use, and the underside of the sole is approximately 20mm or less. The skate may include two substantially parallel blades (240, figure 6).

Description

An ice skate The present invention relates generally to an ice skate and finds particular, although not exclusive, utility in the provision of skates for the skate hire market.

Ice skates include blades attached to the underside of a sole. The distance from the surface of the blade (for contact with the ice in use) and the underside of the sole is typically in the range 50 to 75 mm.

Such a relatively great distance leads to instability for the wearer. This may be due to a relatively high centre of gravity and/or due to the angle through which the skate may rotate before an edge of the skate sole contacts the ice. These factors may lead to the possibility of injury especially for inexperienced skaters.

One aim of the present invention is reduce this instability and provide an improved ice skate.

In a first aspect, the invention provides an ice skate comprising a foot retaining means, a sole and at least one blade, wherein the distance between the blade surface, for contact with ice in use, and the underside of the sole is approximately 20mm or less.

The blade may be attached to the sole by such means as the moulding of the sole and/or other means such as clamps, glue etc. The blade may be a typical ice skate blade of metal construction.

The relatively short distance between the blade surface, for contact with ice in use, and the underside of the sole provides a lower centre of gravity compared to existing known ice skates. It also provides a substantially reduced angle through which the skate may rotate before an edge of the sole contacts with the ice. Accordingly, the skater may feel more confident when skating.

The ice skate may comprise two substantially parallel blades. These two blades may be inclined relative to one another. The angle of inclination may be approximately 2 degrees such that the blade surfaces, for contact with ice in use, are further apart than the portions of the blades in contact with the sole.

These two blades may be located approximately centrally of the sole. In this regard they may be located about an imaginary line running from heel to toe.

These two blades may be approximately 10 to 30 mm, more preferably 15 mm, apart.

The foot retaining means may be a boot or shoe. In one embodiment, the foot retaining means nu include attachment means for attaching the ice skate to initially separate footwear. For instance, the foot retaining means may comprise straps.

The foot retaining means may be size adjustable to accommodate different sizes and types of footwear.

In typically known ice skates the sole is inclined from the heel to the toe (being further from the ice at the heel). This angle may be equal to, or greater than, 6 degrees from the horizontal. The present invention, however, may provide a heel to toe angle for the sole of approximately less than 6 degrees. In one embodiment, the heel to toe angle of the sole may be substantially zero degrees. This may provide a greater feeling of security to a novice ice skater.

The above and other characteristics, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention. This description is given for the sake of example only, without limiting the scope of the invention. The reference figures quoted below refer to the attached drawings.

Figure 1 is a side view of a known ice skate; Figure 2 is a view along the blade of the ice skate of Figure 1 with the blade substantially vertical; Figure 3 is a view along the blade of the ice skate of Figure 1 with the blade keeled over; Figure 4 is aside view of an ice skate according to the invention; Figure 3 is two views along the blade of the ice skate of Figure 4 with the blade substantially vertical and keeled over; and Figure 6 is two views along the blade of a different ice skate according to the invention with the blades substantially vertical and keeled over.

The present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims. The drawings described are only schematic and are non-limiting. In the drawings, the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn to scale for illustrative purposes. The dimensions and the relative dimensions do not correspond to actual reductions to practice of the invention.

Furthermore, the terms first, second, third and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking or in any other manner. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein.

Moreover, the terms top, bottom, over, under and the like in the description and the claims are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other orientations than described or illustrated herein.

It is to be noticed that the term "comprising", used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being restricted to the means listed thereafter; it does not exclude other elements or steps. It is thus to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features, integers, steps or components as referred to, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps or components, or groups thereof. Thus, the scope of the expression "a device comprising means A and B" should not be limited to devices consisting only of components A and B. It means that with respect to the present invention, the only relevant components of the device areA andB.

Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may refer to different embodiments.

Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics of any embodiment or aspect of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments.

Similarly it should be appreciated that in the description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the detailed description are hereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention.

Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form yet further embodiments, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can he used in any combination.

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth.

However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practised without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of

this description.

The invention will now be described by a detailed descrip don of several embodiments of the invention. It is clear that other embodiments of the invention can be configured according to the knowledge of persons skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit or technical teaching of the invention, the invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Part of a known ice skate tO is shown in Figure 1 comprising a hoot 20, a skate support member 30 and a blade 40. The skate support member 30 includes holes SO within it for weight reduction, aerodynamic and/or aesthetic reasons. The underside of the boot 20 has a forward angle of approximately 6 degrees; in other words the heel part of the underside of the boot is further from the ice, in use, than the toe part. The member 30 runs from heel to toe and is relatively narrow as is more clearly seen in Figure 2 which is a view from the toe looking along the length of the skate to the heel.

The blade 40 is typically hollow-ground such that it is slightly concave having t\vo protruding edges along its longitudinal length. The depth of the concavity is typically approximately 0.5mm. The width of the blade 40 is approximately 3mm.

Although the blade 40 is shown having a substantially rectilinear base portion (the portion that contacts the ice in use), it may have a curvilinear form, being convex, with a notional centre of radius located vertically above the ice.

In use, an ice skate is typically positioned such that the plane of the blade 40 is held substantially vertical relative to the ice surface, as sho\vn in Figure 2 in which the referenced features are the same as in Figure 1.

The distance from the surface of the blade 40, \vhich contacts the ice surface in use, to the underside of the boot 20 is typically in the range 50 to 75mm. This means that when the skate twists about a horizontal axis, as may happen with an unsteady skater, it will turn through approximately 50 degrees before the edge of the sole of the boot 20 contacts the ice surface as is more clearly shown in Figure 3. The angle "A" denotes the angle that the boot has turned through. At such an angle the skater will, almost certainly, have fallen over and not he standing upright. The angle is dependent on the width of the boot and it should be understood that the boot widths shown in the Figures may only be indicative.

By contrast, one embodiment of the present invention is shown in Figure 4.

This comprises a boot 120 and a blade 140 held in place to the boot 120 with a skate support member which is located between the sole of the boot 120 and the blade 140.

The blade support member may be integrally moulded with the sole of the boot 120. Alternatively, it may be affixed to the sole of the boot.

The underside of the boot 120 has a fonvard angle of approximately less than 6 degrees; more particularly it may be in the range zero to 4 degrees. In other words the difference in distance of the heel part of the underside of the boot to the ice, relative to the distance of the toe part of the underside of the boot to the ice is less than presently

known in the prior art skate of Figure 1.

The distance from the surface of the blade 140, which contacts the ice surface in use, to the underside of the boot 120 is equal to, or less than, 20mm, and may be in the range 9 to 17mm.

Due to the relative closeness of the underside of the boot 120 to the ice, if the skater loses their balance and the boot tips over it \vill turn through a much smaller angle than the prior art skate. This is demonstrated in Figure 5 where the skate having its blade in the substantially vertical position and with it tipped over are both shown. It will be seen that the angle through which the skate has turned is approximately only degrees, although it may be in the range 10 to 30 degrees.

Another embodiment of the invention is an ice skate having a boot 220 and two blades 240 as shown in Figure 6. This Figure shows the skate in the substantially vertical position and with it tipped over. It will be seen that the angle CCC through which the skate has turned is approximately only 20 degrees, although it may be in the range 10 to 30 degrees.

Such a skate may be used by children.

Although not shown in Figure 6 it is possible that, in another embodiment, the longitudinal sides of the two blades 240 are not in the same plane (and thus not parallel with one another) but are in fact angled relative to one another such that the surfaces that contact the ice, in use, are further apart than the portions of the blade in contact with the blade support member/sole of the hoot. This angle may be approximately 2 degrees, although an angle in the range 1 to 5 degrees is possible.

Although not shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6, the blades 140, 240 may also be hollow ground such as is known in the prior art. Also, although the blade 140 is shown having a substantially rectilinear base portion (the portion that contacts the ice in use), it, and the blades referenced "240" iii Figure 6, may have a curvilinear form, being convex, with a notional centre of radius located vertically above the ice.

Claims

Claims 1. An ice skate comprising a foot retaining means, a sole and at least one blade, wherein the distance between the blade surface, for contact with ice in use, and the underside of the sole is approximately 20mm or less.
2. The ice skate of claim 1, comprising two substantially parallel blades.
3. The ice skate of claim 2, wherein the two blades are inchned relative to one another.
4. The ice skate of claim 3, wherein the angle of inclination is approximately 2 degrees such that the blade surfaces, for contact with ice in use, are further apart than the portions of the blades in contact with the sole.
5. The ice skate of any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the two blades are located approximately centrally of the sole.
6. The ice skates of any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the two blades are approximately 10 to 30mm apart.
7. The ice skate of any preceding claim, wherein the foot retaining means is a hoot or shoe.
8. The ice skate of any one of claims I to 6, wherein the foot retaining means includes attachment means for attaching the ice skate to initially separate footwear.
9. The ice skate of claim 8, wherein the foot retaining means is size adjustable to accommodate different sizes and types of footwear.
10. The ice skate of any preceding claim, wherein the heel to toe angle of the sole is less than 6 degrees.
ii. The ice skate of any preceding claim, wherein the heel to toe angle of the sole is substantially zero degrees.
12. An ice skate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.