US44176A - foksyth - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.v

O. C. FORSYIH, JR., OF l/VASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

SKATE.

` Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. L141,l76, dated September 13, 1864.

To all whom t may concern.-

Beit known that l, O. G. FORSYTH, Jr., of

Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Skates; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figurel is a view of a vertical and longitudinal section of my improved skate. Fig. 2 is a view of a cross-section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

The object of my invention is to produce a skate which shall possess great elasticity combined with sufficient strength, which shall be adjustable to suit vas many dierent sizes as are ordinarily required, and whose runners shall be independent of each other, and each be so attached to the skate-body as to adjust itself to every change in its contour, so that the runners may always rest squarely or evenly upon the surface of the ice.

D represents the sole or body of the skate, which I make of steel or any other elastic material, which has also the requisite strength. It is to be perforated with a number of holes, 3, to admitscrewbolts 2, whose office is to attach to the sole the metallic brackets B, which carry the runners. The brackets B are made in the shape shown in the gures, and if they are constructed out of sheet-brass or other metal they can be swaged to that shape, the blank being first cut out to the required outline and holes cut therein to receive the bolts 2, and also slots 2 cut therein for the passage of the fastening-straps of the skate.

It will be observed that the brackets B have a broad base, so as to receive at least two fastening-bolts, 2, and that its sides gradually diminish to a rounded point, j, which is to be left sufficiently strong to serve as bearings for the journals or 'ulcrum-pins of the runners, which are hung within the sides of the brackets by the fulcrum bolts and nuts l. The runners are to be of metal or other suitable material, and maybe shaped like those marked A, or like that marked A. It will be seen that the runners will rock or have a rotating movement about their points of attachment to the brackets. This rotation will, if uncontrolled, bring their upper ends, 4, against the sole D. In

order to control their rotating movement, I fasten elliptic springs c to the inner faces of the brackets by cutting slots through the shank of the springs so that they can be clamped against the brackets by the saine screw-bolts 2 which secure the latter to the sole D. rlhese slots in the springs are elongated to permit of their adjustment in position, and also to increase and decrease their elasticity, which latter object is effected by shortening or lengthening the limbs of the spring, or the distance from its ends to the bite of the bolthead. The bolt d in Fig. 2 is seen to pass through the shank of one of these springs c through such a slot.

Although I have shown the springs of this form, and a mode of adjusting and operating them, yet I do not con line myself to the use of springs of this character, as I can use other springs with equally good or better results-as, for instance, rubber springs or spiral springs 'iiXed between the sole D and the upper or plane edges of the runners, one or more on each side of a vertical plane passing through the axis of their fulcrums l. One or more springs are required to bear upon each end of the runners when they are shaped like those marked A; but if all the runners are made like that marked A aspring bcaringi's needed only at or toward its end 4. The runner A in this example is meant for a back or heel ruimer, and is therefore provided with a rudder, 5, which is to be omitted when used under other parts ot' the sole. A bearing, f, whose upper surface is parallel with and contiguous to the sole D when the runner is in its normal state, is formed upon the back part of the runner A', so that its rotation cannot take place in that direction. The rest ot' the upper edge of the runner is cut away down to the height of its end 4,` so as to allow of aclear space between it and the sole at that end. The arc described by that end of the runner may be increased or decreased by raising or lowering the end 4 of the runner. The bolts 2 are secured by nuts or nuts and washers, and these and all the screwbolts in the skate are to be so constructed and secured as not to be liable to loosen. The sole D is to be covered by an elastic bed-piece, (l, which is to be cemented or otherwise fastened upon the sole D, the nuts and bolt ends 2 being embedded therein, as shown in Fig. l. I propose to use for this purpose vulcanized rubber or other equivalent material.

1 By' means of the perforations in the sole D for bolts at the points 3, I am enabled to alter the position of the runners, and also to increase or decrease their number, so that the same sole D may be used for askate with two or more runners, each to be placed at such points as may be chosen, in order to adjust the skate v for feet of different sizes or to suit those who desire to increase the steadiness of the skate by increasing the number ofrunners, and vice versa.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In constructing skates, the combination of an elastic sole, with two or more runners, which are free to rotate in the direction ofthe length of the skate, substantially as described.

2. Adjusting the skate for different sizes of feet and to different degrees or" steadiness or rigidity by means ofv holes3 in the sole and moving ends and the sole of the skate, suby stantially as described.

O. C. FORSY'IH, JR.

Witnesses CHARLES D. SMITH, OcfrAviUs KNIGHT.

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