WO2003004114A1

WO2003004114A1 - Roller skate all-wheels braking system

Info

Publication number: WO2003004114A1
Application number: PCT/IB2001/000908
Authority: WO
Inventors: Arben Vrapi
Original assignee: Arben Vrapi
Priority date: 2001-05-23
Filing date: 2001-05-23
Publication date: 2003-01-16

Abstract

A brake assembly for in-line roller skates. The brake assembly operates on all wheels. Each brake member is pivotally attached to chassis. When the skater presses the toe plate, main link member moves rearwardly. At this very moment, brake-rendering members, which comprise arms being pivotally attached to main link member and propeller-shaped elements being pivotally attached to chassis, are actuated so as propeller-shaped elements push the brake members, positioned on both sides, to come into contact with their corresponding wheels in order to realize braking event.

Description

ROLLER SKATE ALL-WHEELS BRAKING SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention is brakes for roller skates and more particularly for roller skates of the type referred to as in-line skates using the toe as braking means. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are many years' strivings of different scientists in order to find a braking system that best fits for the in-line roller skates. The most common is that of Heel-Pad that rubs against the skating surface while the skater tips his skate rearwardly. Examples of this conventional arrangements are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos.

D315,941; 5,052,701; and, 5,067,736. In Heel-Pad system skate brake, as the skater pushes down on the heel of the skater, the skater's weight tends to be supported primarily on the freely rolling wheel, and to bring the brake pad on the wheel portion to bear, the skater must raise the Toe portion of the skate into the air while keeping the heel pad engaged on the rolled surface. It is at this necessary motional transition of the skaters balance at this precise moment, that the skater could totally lost its balance and falls down. As a result, braking with the heel-pad brakes has proven particularly difficult for inexperienced skaters, who find it intimidating to pivot the foot rearwardly. Furthermore, use of the Heel brake requires a skater to shift and maintain his weight towards the rear and away from the direction of motion and thus positions him poorly in preparation for any subsequent skating action or maneuver. Another disadvantage of prior art heel brakes resides in their tendency to snag or catch on certain inclines or in irregular cracks in the skating surface. Therefore, heel braking with prior art heel brakes has not proven satisfactory.

Another system is that of U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,238 which discloses a bicycle type squeeze lever that can be stored in the waist belt area while not being used. While this system allows the motion of the arms to be urύnhibited, it result in slower braking reaction times as the skater must quickly reach and attempt to locate the control.

Another system that involves cuff rotation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,419 where the top portion of the boot rotates backward activating the dropping of a dragging surface to the ground or braking of the rolling wheels. The activation of this technique for this braking means involves placing one or both legs in distorted positions with the front foot extending far forward during braking. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to provide in-line skate brake assembly overcorning many of the problems and disadvantages of prior skate braking apparatus and techniques and perrnitting more effective braking.

It is a further object of this invention to provide practical and simple in-line skate brake assembly adapted for fitting onto a large variety and types of in-line skates.

The present invention provides a brake assembly for in-line roller skate. All brake members are movably held by the chassis and have a bracket-shaped surface oriented to contact the wheel. The roller skate includes a boot which in its forward portion has a hole where the toe plate rests and which in turn can move downwardly when pressed by the toe and upwardly when released. When braking is desired the skater presses the toe plate which in turn renders the main link member move rearwardly. While main link member moves rearwardly, the propeller-shaped elements push the brake members sideways so as to render their bracket-shaped surface come into contact with skate's wheel in order to realize braking event.

These and more other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the following description made in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference labels refer to same or similar parts throughout the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a left side elevational view of the right skate in a non-braking posture. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a brake-rendering member with the screw and its respective elements in open position.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of C-shaped link element with its tube element fixed in the body and the screw with its respective elements in open position. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a brake member and the screw with its respective elements in open position.

FIG. 5 is a cross-section of forward portion of the boot with the toe plate and short link element being positioned in the hole, and the toggle in its perspective view. FIG. 6 is a cross-section view of the point where the rearward portion of C-shaped link element and the forward portion of transmitter arm are pivotally attached to each other.

FIG. 7 is a left side elevational view of the forward portion of right skate in a full- braking posture.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1, the main components of the skate are a chassis 2 which carries wheels 7, a boot 1 which in its forward portion has toe plate 3 and a hole 46 on the base line 47. C-shaped link element 9 is pivotally hinged at the point 16. Its forward end is pivotally attached to rear end of short link element 8 at the point 17. Short link element 8 is pivotally attached to plate extension 33 of toe plate 3 at the point 18.

Transmitter arm 20 has one end pivotally attached to the body of main link member 4 and the other end pivotally attached to rear end of C-shaped link element 9 at the point 15. Main link element 4 is pivotally attached to arms 5 at the points 13.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, brake-rendering member 28 has an arm 5 and a propeller-shaped element 6. A tube element 34 passes through the body of the propeller-shaped element 6 and is unmovably attached to it. In the forward portion of the tube element 34 arm 5 is unmovably mounted. So, the tube element 34, propeller-shaped element 6 and arm 5, which constitute the brake-rendering member 28, are a single unique body. Brake-rendering member 28 is pivotally mounted on both sides of the chassis 2 at the point 19 through screw 25 which has a disk element 26 and a nut 27. The diameter of threads of screw 25 is smaller than the diameter stem of screw 25 in order that disc element 26 and nut 27 be firmly fixed to back wall of the stem. The distance 35 of the stem of screw 25 is a bit bigger than the distance of the tube element 34 plus the width of opposing walls of chassis 2 so as to let the brake-rendering member 28 pivot about the screw 25.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, brake member 22 consists of a bracket- shaped surface 23 which faces the corresponding wheel, and a brake body 24 which has a tube element 32 fixed to its uppermost part. Brake members 22 are pivotally mounted on both sides of chassis 2 at the points 14 by the screws 31 passing through tube elements 32. Screw 31 is positioned on both sides of chassis 2. It has the same nature and plays the same function as screw 25.

Referring to FIG.l and FIG. 3, C-shaped link element 9 has a tube element 36 firmly attached to it. Screw 30 attaches the C-shaped link element 9 on both sides of chassis 2 in the same way, have the same construction and plays the same function as screw 25 mentioned above. Tube element 36 is positioned in the body of C-shaped link element 9 so as its left extension 42 be smaller in distance than its right extension 29, and this construction is a unique single body. C-shaped link element 9 is in the same vertical plane with the skater's toe.

FIG. 6 illustrates the cross-section at the point 15. Screw 37 has its stem 39 and its threads 38. The height of the stem 39 is bigger than the height of the threads 38. The width of stem 39 is bigger than the width 40 of C-shaped link element 9. Transrnitter arm 20 is unmovably fixed into the threads 38 by disk element 39 and nut 41 so as its front face comes into contact with the rear face of stem 39. Under these conditions, C-shaped link element 9 can make pivotal movements at the point 15. So, C-shaped link element 9 and transmitter arm 20 are pivotally attached to each other at the point 15. This explanation is the same for points 13, point 10, point 18 and 17 which have the same nature. Torsion spring 11 has one end attached to chassis 2 and the other attached to main link member 4. When braking is stopped, it drags the main link member 4 forward position in order to put brake-rendering members 28 into their non-braking posture while skating. The brake members 22 are positioned two by two and back to back to each other. Torsion springs 12 have one end attached to forward brake member 22 and the other end to backward brake member 22, of each couple of brake members 22, in order not to let brake members 22 do undesirable movements while the skater skates. FIG. 5 shows a cross-section of the forward portion of the boot 1 where toe plate 3, plate extension 33 together with short link element 8 are positioned into the hole of toggle 42. This shows a non-braking posture of the skate. Width 43 of short link element 8 is bigger than the diameter 44 of the hole of toggle 42 in order not to let short link element 8 pass through the hole of toggle 42 when braking is stopped.

FIG. 7 shows the forward part of the right skate in full-braking posture. 0 and β angles are approximately equal to each other. 0 angle should be under 180° because if it is 180° transmitter arm 20 comes on the same line with main link member 4 so torsion spring 11 can not disengage the brake assembly from full- braking posture.

METHOD OF USE

The method of use of this brake assembly includes a brake member 22 to be activated for stopping the skate by movement of the skater's toe. As shown in FIG.l, representing a non-braking posture, each couple of brake members rests in a predetermined position as a result of torsion springs 12 which pull them toward opposite directions. Brake members 22 of each couple are positioned back to back to each other. Brake-rendering member 28 is positioned between the couple of brake members 22 and one end of propeller-shaped element 6 is in touch with back portion of forward brake member 22 and the other end of propeller-shaped element 6 is in touch with back portion of rearward brake member 22 of each couple of brake members 22. This system renders brake-members 22 not to do any undesirable movements while skating.

When braking is desired, the skater presses the toe plate 3, as showed in FIG. 7. The plate extension 33 is pivotally attached to short link element 8 at the point 18 and as a result pushes the short link element 8 downwardly. Short link element 8 is pivotally attached to the forward portion of C-shaped link element 9 which in turn is pivotally mounted at the point 16. So, pressing force renders the forward portion of C-shaped link element 9 to move downwardly while its rearward portion moves upwardly together with the forward portion of transmitter arm 20 to which it is pivotally attached at the point 15. The rear portion of transrnitter arm 20 is pivotally attached to main link member 4 at the point 10. While the point 15 moves upward position, transmitter arm 20 moves backward position. As a consequence, main link member 4 is rendered to move backward position together with arms 5 being pivotally attached to it at the points 13. At this very moment, brake-rendering members 28 pivot about points 19 and propelled- shaped elements 6, being forced to move clockwise, push their corresponding couples of brake members 22 so as to bring them into contact with corresponding wheels in order to realize braking event.

Claims

WHAT I CLAIM IS :

1. An inline skate for use on a skating surface and a brake assembly comprising : a boot in which the foot of the skater is positioned and which comprise a forward portion for containing a toe plate and a hole on the base line where the plate extension is positioned ; a short link element being pivotally attached to the bottom portion of the plate extension in order to transmit the pressing force of the toe of skater to toe plate towards the C-shaped link element ; a C-shaped link element being pivotally mounted to chassis of skate which has a forward portion pivotally attached to said short link element and a rearward portion pivotally attached to a transmitter arm, and when the said toe plate is pressed its rearward portion moves upward position together with the forward portion of transmitter arm ; a transmitter arm which in its forward portion is pivotally attached to said C- shaped link element and in its rearward portion is pivotally attached to main link member, such as when the rearward portion of C-shaped link element moves upward position, main link member together with transmitter arm move rearward position ; a main link member to which are pivotally attached said transmitter arm and brake-rendering members, and when activated by transmitter arm - while braking - moves rearward position so as to bring brake-rendering members into braking position ; a brake-rendering member which is pivotally attached to both sides of chassis, has an arm pivotally attached to said main link member and has a propeller- shaped element which in turn renders brake members to come into contact with their corresponding wheels ; a brake member which is pivotally attached to chassis and which comprises a bracket-shaped surface facing its corresponding wheel, a brake body which has a tube element attached to its uppermost surface, said device in which said bracket-shaped surface comes into contact with its corresponding wheel such as to embrace the corresponding wheel through all its braking surface ;

2. The in-line skate of claim 1, wherein C-shaped link element further comprises a tube element attached to its body.