US20110316244A1

US20110316244A1 - Smoothly steerable roller skate

Info

Publication number: US20110316244A1
Application number: US12/803,399
Authority: US
Inventors: Kuo-Tai Tang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-06-28
Filing date: 2010-06-28
Publication date: 2011-12-29

Abstract

A steerable roller skate includes: a sole member of a roller skate having a pair of rear wheels transversely rotatably secured to a rear bottom portion of the sole member, a steering base steerably secured on a front bottom portion of the sole member, a pair of front wheels transversely rotatably secured on the steering base, a first magnet secured on a central bottom portion of the sole member, a second magnet secured on the steering base adjacent to the first magnet having opposite magnetic polarities of the first and second magnets for normally attracting the second magnet to the first magnet, and a non-magnetic spacer either formed on a bottom surface of the first magnet, or formed on an upper surface of the second magnet for spacing or separating the two magnets for smoothly steering the roller skate.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

U.S. Pat. No. 6,926,290 issued to the same inventor disclosed a magnetically-restored steerable roller skate. However, it has the following drawbacks:

1. When installing or adjusting the second magnet 4 b to the first magnet 4 a, a strong magnetic force between the two magnets 4 a, 4 b will instantly attract the two magnets with each other to thereby increase the difficulty for defining or adjusting an aperture between the two magnets.
2. When the two magnets are automatically restored and attracted during roller skating, the strong attractive force existing between the two magnets will attract the two magnets closely to thereby affect the next biasing movement either rightwardly or leftwardly.
3. During the skating, the vibrations may cause impact of the second magnet on the first magnet to damage the magnets, especially when the aperture between the two magnets is very small.

The present inventor has found the drawbacks of the prior art and invented the present smoothly steerable roller skate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a steerable roller skate including: a sole member of a skate boot or fastening strap of roller skate having a pair of rear wheels transversely rotatably secured to a rear bottom portion of the sole member, a steering base steerably secured on a front bottom portion of the sole member, a pair of front wheels transversely rotatably secured on the steering base, a first magnet secured on a central bottom portion of the sole member, and a second magnet secured on the steering base adjacent to the first magnet having opposite magnetic polarities of the first and second magnets for normally attracting the second magnet to the first magnet with a greater magnetic attractive force between the first and second magnets for efficiently magnetically restoring the steering base and the front wheels for automatically resetting a straightforward orientation of the roller skate; with a non-magnetic spacer, either formed on a bottom surface of the first magnet or formed on an upper surface of the second magnet, for helping separating the two magnets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration showing a roller skate of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, a preferred embodiment of the roller skate of the present invention comprises: a sole member 1 of a skate boot or fastening strap 11 of a roller skate defining a longitudinal axis 10 at a longitudinal center of the sole member 1, a steering means 2 steerably secured to a front bottom portion of the sole member 1, a pair of front wheels 3 rotatably transversely secured on the steering means 2 by a front axle 31, a pair of rear wheels 5 rotatably transversely secured to a rear bottom portion of the sole member 1, a first magnet 4 a secured on a central bottom portion 12 of the sole member 1, a second magnet 4 b secured on the steering means 2, and a non-magnetic spacer 6 formed on a bottom of the first magnet 4 a for partitioning the two magnets 4 a, 4 b. The pair of rear wheels 5 is rotatably secured on a rear axle 51, generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 10 of the sole member 1.
The steering means 2 includes: a steering base 25 having a front base portion 25 a drilled with a vertical bolt hole for rotatably engaging a front bolt 21 vertically secured in a front bottom portion of the sole member 1 about a front vertical axis 20, an axle hole horizontally transversely formed through a middle portion of the steering base 25 for rotatably engaging a front axle 31 for rotatably securing the pair of front wheels 3 on the steering base 25, and a rear extension portion 25 f formed on a rear portion of the steering base 25. The vertical axis 20 of the bolt 21 is projectively perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 10 of the sole member 1.
The first magnet 4 a is fixed to the central bottom portion 12 of the sole member 1 having a magnetic polarity of the first magnet 4 a opposite to a magnetic polarity of the second magnet 4 b secured on the rear extension portion 25 f of the steering base 25 for a mutual magnetic attraction between the first and second magnets 4 a, 4 b.
Either the first magnet 4 a or the second magnet 4 b may be formed as a circular shape with same or different diameters to increase their magnetic attraction force since the circular magnet may have a volume or area larger than a slim rectangular-shaped magnet.
The non-magnetic spacer 6 as spaced between the first magnet 4 a and the second magnet 4 b may be made from non-magnetic materials, including: stainless steel, plastic, wood, glass or other non-magnetic or non ferrous magnetic materials.
The spacer 6 may include a plurality of stainless steel balls, secured, bonded or welded to the bottom of the first magnet 4 a.
Such stainless steel balls 6 may be circularly formed on the bottom of the first magnet 4 a about a center C of the first magnet 4 a.
Alternationly, the non-magnetic spacer 6 may also be formed on an upper portion or upper surface of the second magnet 4 b to be adjacent to the first magnet 4 a.
Due to the spacing by the non-magnetic spacer 6 of the present invention, there may be provided with the following advantages:

1. When the two magnets 4 a, 4 b are automatically restored by the strong mutual magnetic attraction force existing therebetween, the non-magnetic spacer 6 may slightly reduce such a strong magnetic attraction force in order for smoothing a next biasing movement either rightwardly or leftwardly when changing the skating directions.
2. For installing or adjusting the second magnet 4 b to approach the first magnet 4 a, the spacer 6 may serve as a “washer” or a “partition” between the two magnets 4 a, 4 b, without worrying about their too close mutual magnetic attraction.
3. The spacer 6, especially when made as stainless steel balls, may serve as a bearing for smoothly moving the two magnets 4 a, 4 b when overcoming their mutual magnetic attraction.
4. The spacer 6 may also serve as a buffer for dampening the impact between the two magnets 4 a, 4 b especially when vibrated during the roller skating movements, thereby protecting the magnets.

So, the present invention is superior to the prior art of U.S. Pat. No. 6,926,290.
The spacer 6 may be formed as balls as illustrated, or may be formed as a ring, or any other shapes to be spaced in between the two magnets 4 a, 4 b. The shapes and arrangements of the spacer or spacers 6 on the magnet 4 a or 4 b are not limited in the present invention.
The bottom portion of the sole member 1 and the steering base 25 may be made of non-ferrous materials for preventing loss of magnetic property of the magnets 4 a, 4 b.
The steering base 25 further includes a limiting projection 25 d protruding upwardly from a central portion of the steering base 25 to be retarded by a pair of stoppers 29 respectively disposed on opposite side portions on a front bottom portion of the sole member 1 to prevent falling off of a skate player when rightwardly or leftwardly steering a roller skate of the present invention.
The first magnet 4 a, when magnetically restored, has a center aligned with the longitudinal axis 10 of the sole member 1. The second magnet 4 b, as secured on the steering base 25, is separated from the first magnet 4 a as partitioned by the spacer 6 to define the aperture A between the first and second magnets 4 a, 4 b.
The circular shape of the magnet 4 a or 4 b may also be modified to be other shapes.
The fixing or joining methods for securing the two magnets on the skate may be further modified and not limited in this invention.
Upon a skating by a player, the front wheels 3 may be biased sidewardly as shown in FIG. 2 to forcibly move the second magnet 4 b from the first magnet 4 a for deviating the skating direction from a straightforward direction aligned with the longitudinal axis 10 to a sideward orientation as shown in the arrow direction in FIG. 2.
Then, the player lifts his foot for a next skating step, the magnetic attraction between the two magnets 4 a, 4 b will automatically restore the steering base 25 to allow the front axis 31 to be perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 10 of the sole member for resetting a straightforward direction, ready for next biasing movement either rightwardly or leftwardly.
The present invention may, for instance, be modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A steerable roller skate comprising:

a sole member having a longitudinal axis defined at a central portion thereof and having a pair of rear wheels transversely rotatably secured to a rear bottom portion of said sole member, a steering means having a steering base steerably secured to a front bottom portion of said sole member, a pair of front wheels transversely rotatably secured to the steering base of said steering means by a front axle, a first magnet secured to a central bottom portion of said sole member, a second magnet secured on said steering base normally positioned under said first magnet, said first and second magnets having opposite magnetic polarities thereof for a mutual magnetic attraction between said first and second magnets for normally restoring the steering base and the front wheels to allow said front axle to be projectively perpendicular to said longitudinal axis of said sole member for a normal straightforward skating of said roller skate; and a non-magnetic spacer either formed on a bottom surface of said first magnet, or formed on an upper surface of said second magnet to help separation of said first magnet from said second magnet as spaced by said non-magnetic spacer.

2. A steerable roller skate according to claim 1, wherein said non-magnetic spacer is made of non-magnetic materials, and formed, secured, bonded, or welded on a surface of one said magnet to be spaced or separated from the other said magnet.

3. A roller skate according to claim 1, wherein said non-magnetic spacer includes a plurality of stainless steel balls circularly formed on a bottom surface of said first magnet, or formed on an upper surface of said second magnet.

4. A roller skate according to claim 1, wherein said non-magnetic spacer is a non-magnetic ring circularly formed on a surface of one said magnet to be spaced and separated from the other said magnet.

5. A roller skate according to claim 1, wherein each said magnet is formed as a circular magnet.