US20030197338A1

US20030197338A1 - Tri-wheel skating boot

Info

Publication number: US20030197338A1
Application number: US10/211,315
Authority: US
Inventors: Ting-Hsing Chen
Original assignee: Far Great Plastics Industrial Co Ltd
Current assignee: Far Great Plastics Industrial Co Ltd
Priority date: 2002-04-09
Filing date: 2002-08-05
Publication date: 2003-10-23
Also published as: JP3092132U; TW533885U; GB2387549B; GB0218197D0; GB2387549A

Abstract

A tri-wheel skating boot, comprised of a hollow area formed at the bottom in the rear of the truck, a suspended support shaft frame extending forward from the rear of the truck, a laterally disposed shaft tube at the end of the support shaft frame pivoted to a wheel shaft with both ends connected to two rear wheels, a seat at the center above the shaft tube, a recessed trough in the rear truck, a hole at the bottom of the recessed trough to connect through the hollow area below, a connection block between the hole and the seat; a protrusion at the upper end of the connection block to lock it in position relatively to the hole; a spherical surface at the lower end of the connection block to hold against the seat, a screw hole at the top of the connection block; a convexity with a central hole formed in the rear of boot above the truck to be inserted into the recessed trough in the truck and secured with a bolt in the connection block for achieving proper deflection of the support shaft frame to compromise the inclination whenever the skater takes a turn.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a tri-wheel skating boot, and more particularly, to one that allows one front wheel and two rear wheels mounted to a truck of the tri-wheel skating boot deflects along with that by the central gravity of the body of a skater, leading to that the truck is partially deflected to facilitate taking a turn.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

Skating is very popular among the youngster and the skating boot have been developed from four wheels, one pair each on the front and on the rear, earlier up to the current in-line skating boot. Configuration of structure, size and specification vary in the in-line skating boot generally available in the market to cope with functionality and age of skater. However, comb-back incorporated with modern technology is the fashion that usually seen in the development of any single item product. Accordingly, the earlier 4-wheel skating boot is coming back with multiple improvements including a plastic boot that offers more protection to the ankle, and an adjusting buckle that permits fast putting on or off, for it most favored in the fashion. Furthermore, it is particularly suitable for a beginner since it allows easy standing up for the beginner to first get used to walking while skating to learn how to skate at slower speed before learning to control subsequent skating movement.

The basic structure of a four-wheel skating boot of the prior art incorporated with plastic boot and truck is substantially the same as that of earlier type having leather or fabric boot connected to a metal truck. The only difference is in the material used for the boot and the truck that plastic has replaced the leather, fabric and metal used in the past. The truck is incorporated at its bottom the same with a buffer made of rubber as the deflection mechanism for the lateral shaft to facilitate that the wheels on both sides would deflect along with the central gravity of the body of the skater for better taking turns in skating. However, the buffer is made of soft rubber, which is vulnerable to be deformed when subject to compression, thus to compromise the inclination on both sides of the skating boot and make it comparatively instable.

In case of an in-line skating boot, multiple wheels are pivoted in a straight line to a truck leaving on a very narrow wheel area to contact the ground and the skater while skating is able to take turns at a deflected angle as desired. Naturally, the rubber buffer is not required as a deflection mechanism for the lateral shaft of the in-line skating boot. Whereas, both of the four-wheel and the in-line skating boots each is found with own features, pros and cons as described above, a new way of thinking is created to combine the configuration of both types. When the concept is realized, a design of having one front wheel and two rear wheels of a skating boot is design. The three-wheel skating boot allows easier taking turns and lighter weight than the four-wheel type does, due to that most of the force is applied to the rear wheels to reduce resistance encountered when taking turns, thus to make taking turns more agile, reliable and controllable. However, a deflection mechanism comprised of a rubber buffer is adapted to the rear of the truck for the lateral shaft, and both rear wheels are connected to both sides of the shaft. Such a configuration does not eliminate the earlier problem that the buffer is vulnerable to be deformed when subject to compression.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a tri-wheel skating boot by providing a proper support shaft frame that allows deflection and inclination for two rear wheels so that the truck deflects as the central gravity of the body of the skater deflects thus to appropriately deflect a local part of the support shaft frame to facilitate the skater to take turns without excessive deflection. To achieve the purpose, a hollow area is formed at the bottom of the rear of the truck, which then extends to its front a suspended support shaft frame; an end of the support shaft frame is formed with a laterally disposed shaft tube, a seat is formed at the center on the upper side of the shaft tube, a recessed trough is formed on the rear truck, and a hole is provided at the bottom of the recessed trough to connect it through the hollow area below; a block is provided between the hole and the seat to lock in position with a protrusion provided at the upper end of the block in relation to the hole, the lower end of the block indicating a spherical surface holds against the seat, and a screw hole is provided on the top of the block. Furthermore, a convexity having a central hole and protruding towards the bottom is formed at the rear of the boot above the truck so that the boot has the convexity at the bottom of the rear side inserted to the recessed trough at the rear of the truck, and a bolt is used to directly penetrate through the hole and secured in the screw hole of the block. With the shaft tube of the support shaft frame pivoted to the wheel shaft and both ends of connected to two wheels to hold against the ground, the support shaft frame is deflected by receiving the weight of the skater so to compromise the inclination created during taking turns.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. [0008]
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an assembly of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. [0009]
FIG. 3 is another sectional view of the assembly of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. [0010]
FIG. 4 is a view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention when a skater wearing it is taking turns. [0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a tri-wheel skating boot of the present invention comprises a truck ([0012] 1) made of plastic material by injection model, a boot (2) also made of plastic material coupled to the upper part of the truck (1). In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the truck (1) is formed a hollow area at the bottom of the rear and extends a suspended support shaft frame (11) from the rear end forward. A laterally disposed shaft tube (12) is formed at the end of the support shaft frame (11). A seat (13) is formed at the center of the upper side of the shaft tube (12). A recessed trough (14) is formed on the rear of the truck (1) having at the bottom of the trough (14) provided with a hole (15) to connect through the hollow area below. A connection block (16) is disposed between the hole (15) and the seat (13). A protrusion (161) is provided at the upper end of the block (16) for it to be locked in position in relation to the hole (15). Both of the protrusion (161) and the hole (15) may be provided in hexagon so to lock up the connection block (16) to prevent it from rotation. A spherical surface is provided to the lower end of the connection block (16) to hold against the seat (13) while a screw hole (162) is provided on the top of the connection block (16).
A convexity ([0013] 21) with a central hole (211) protruding toward the truck (1) is provided at the rear of the boot (2).
As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, a skating boot is assembled by using the design as disclosed above adapted with other members, the boot ([0014] 2) has its convexity (21) at the bottom in the rear to be inserted into the recessed trough (14) provided in the upper part in the rear of the truck (1), then a bolt (3) is used in conjunction with a washer (31) to directly penetrate through the hole (211) and secure the bolt (3) in the screw hole (162) of the connection block (16) thus to secure the boot (2) in the relative rear part of the truck (1) while the boot (2) and the front of the truck (1) is fixed in position by means of a plurality of rivets or bolts (4). A single front wheel (5) is pivoted into the front of a wheel frame (17) of the truck (1) while both rear wheels (7) are connected respectively to both ends of the shaft tube (12) of the support shaft frame (1) pivoted to the wheel shaft (6) to complete the assembly of a tri-wheel skating boot.
As the tri-wheel skating boot glides by having the single front wheel ([0015] 5) and two rear wheels (7) of the truck (1) to roll against the ground, the front wheel (5) will forthwith deflect for being subject to the weight of the skater when the skater takes a turn. Meanwhile, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the suspended part of the support shaft frame (11) will be appropriately deflected and twisted depending on the deflection of the central gravity of the human body of the skater, and the inclination of the turn taken. The seat (13) above the end of the support shaft frame (11) is holding against the spherical surface at the lower end of the connection block (16) to have a deflected displacement at a given point. Within such a pattern, a turn taken by the skater is prevented from attracting excessive inclination thus to help taking a smooth and reliable turns.
As disclosed, a tri-wheel skating boot of the present invention by providing a proper flexibility of deflection, depending on the central gravity of the body of the skater, created by a plastic support shaft frame integrated with a truck at its rear laterally disposed with a wheel shaft having its both ends connected with two rear wheels in parallel to facilitate the skater in taking smooth and reliable turns while offering an easy incorporation of the rear of the boot to the rear of the truck, has innovative design as a general and improved practicability. [0016]

Claims

I claim,

1. A tri-wheel skating boot with a truck made of plastic material and a boot connected to an upper part of the truck, characterized by that:

the truck having formed a hollow area at the bottom in the rear and extending forward a suspended support shaft frame; a laterally disposed shaft tube being formed at one end of the support shaft frame; a seat being formed at the center of the upper side of the shaft tube; a recessed trough being formed on the rear of the truck; a hole being provided at the bottom of the recessed trough to connect through the hollow area below; a connection block being provided between the hole and the seat; a protrusion being provided at the upper end of the connection block to lock in position relatively to the hole; a spherical surface being provided at the lower end of the connection block to hold against the seat; a screw hole being provided at the top of the connection block;

a convexity having a center hole being provided in the rear of the boot to protrude toward the bottom;

the boot having its convexity in the rear inserted into the recessed trough in the rear of the truck; a bolt being directly penetrated through the hole and secured in the screw hole of the connection block; two wheels being respectively provided to both ends of the shaft tube of the support shaft frame pivoted to a wheel shaft; both rear wheels sliding on the ground to appropriately deflect the suspended support shaft frame when subject to the pressure exercised by the weight of the body of a skater taking a turn to help achieve a smooth and reliable turn by compromising the inclination created at taking the turn.