Skate

Feb. 20, 1951

A. E. MURRAY

SKATE

2,542,829

Filed Jan. 15, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1

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Feb. 20, 1951

A. E. MURRAY

SKATE

2,542,829

Filed Jan. 15, 1945

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Sheets-Sheet 2

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7^-7-

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Fatented Feb. 20, 1951

2,542,829

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,512,829

SKATE

Alan E. Murray, Wilmington, Del.

Application January 15,1945, SerialNo. 572,861

Claims.

My invention relates particularly to an improved form of roller skating equipment.

The object of my invention is to provide roller skates of a very different and better, character than equipment hitherto provided for this purpose. Hitherto the. whole trend of skate construction has been towards precision making and mounting of the skates on the shoes in an effort to obtain ease in skating, as well as for reducing the amount of noise therefrom. The object of my invention is the opposite of precision, manufacture, in that the skates made in accordance with, my invention have, extraordinary flexibility and are such that different kinds of movement are obtainable thereby with regard to the foot and skate, and another object is to so mount the skate as to eliminate a large percentage of the noise. For instance, in the skates made in accordance with my invention, the skate is mounted so that the rear portion of the skate mounting is capable of movement relative to the mounting of the front portion of the skate. However, the connection between the front and rear portion of. the skates is preferably of a flexible character. By means of my skates, thus, relative lateral movement can be obtained during skating between the front and rear portions of the skate. Also, the usual turning movement with the skate is carried further in the skates made in accordance with my invention, in that a different angularity between the front portion of the skate and .the shoe can be obtained while skating as compared with the angularity between the rear portion of the skate and the shoe. Furthermore, the shoe mounting is such that a torsional movement of the sole is possible, enabling the above differences in angularity as to the front and rear portions of the skate to be attained while skating. In other words, the skate mounting in accordance with my invention is such as to permit, in the skating, the natural movements possible to the foot without being restrained by a rigid skate plate connecting the front and rear sets of rollers. Another object is to mount the front and rear portions of the skate on resilient elastic members so as to provide for further elasticity of the respective parts and also to reduce the noise thereby. Further objects of my invention will appear from the detailed description of the same hereinafter.

While my invention is capable of being carried out in many different ways, for the purpose of illustration I have shown only certain ways of carrying out the. same in the accompanying drawings, in which—

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the skate made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is an underneath view of the same showing the rollers removed;

Fig. 3 is an underneath view of the same showing the rollers in place and indicating one posi(Cl. 280—11.28) tion of the rollers when the skater is executing, a turning movement ;

Fig. 4 is a. diagrammatic view showing the .difn. ferent relative angularities, to the vertical pos5 sible.in the front and rear portions of the skate, respectively, while skating;

Fig. 5 is a vertical, longitudinal section of. one. of the skate elements;

Fig. 6 is.an elevation of a turn-buckle bar which 10 can be used to .connect the front and rear portions of the skate together, instead of the strap shown in the preceding figures; and ....,

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the strap which may, be used alternatively with, the turn-buckle rod, 15 of Fig. 6.

In the drawings, referring, first, to Figs. 1 to 5 and 7, I have shown a skate, shoe i which may: be a shoe of any desired type capable of torsional movement in the, respective front and rear par.20. tions thereof on. a. horizontal axis. Preferably, however, the. said .shoe is constructed in accords, ance with the shoe shown and described in my copending application, Serial No. 508,7.05, upon “Footwear,” filed November :2, 1943, now Patent 2,- No. 2,404,083, dated July 16, 1946; the said shoe being .comprised of a pad 2 tightly packed, with a filling material 3 of any desired character enclosed in .canvas or rubber layers 3a, 3b, and 3 c and. having a leather sole 3d. The said shoe, if so desired, may have an outer sole such as described in my copending application, Serial No. 555,005, upon “Shoe Sole Materials and Process of Applying the Same,” filed September 20, 1944, now Patent No. 2.448,455, dated August 31, 1948. 35 However, the filling material which I use in this connection, and which is far superior, in every, respect to other filling materials, is bleached cotton linters, inasmuch as this material provides not only the desired resiliency but sufficient 40 compactness and density to adequately hold the fastening screws or othei’ means to be used in fastening the skate elements thereto and yet, furthermore, is .of such a character as to become, accommodated effectively and accurately to the 45 contours of the under-surface of the foot after, being used in skating, therewith. This pad 2 may be constructed the .same as in my application aforesaid, and may have united therewith an upper 4 having inner layers 4a and 4 b of monk's 50 cloth and an outer layer of leather He. The various. layers of the shoe are fastened together with latex, a prevulcanized rubber. Also, the shoe has a strap .5,

Mounted separately on the pad 2 there are a forward skate element 6 and a rear skate element

7, which are constructed just alike and only one of which will, therefore, be described in detail.

The front skate element 6 is mounted on a four-sided metal plate 8 which is attached' to the pad 2 by means of screws 9 which pass into the cotton linters packing of the pad 2. likewise, the rear skate element 7 is mounted on a similar plate i ϋ which is attached by screws 11 which, in this instance, however, pass through two leather layers 12 and 13 and which are then screwed into the cotton linters packing of the pad 2. The leather layers 12 and 13. are designed to give more elevation to the heel of the foot than is provided at the front portion of the foot. Each of said skate elements 6 and 7 is comprised of a longitudinal plate 14 which is fastened by rivets 15 to its plate. Furthermore, formed on the plate 14 there is a cylindrical stud having a screw-threaded hole 17 therein and which is provided, for strengthening purposes, with webs 18 and 19. A long screw 26 is screw-threaded in the stud 16. Immediately below the stud 16 the screw passes through the front end of a leather strap 21, and beneath this there is a lock nut 22 on said screw 20. Beneath the lock nut 22 there is a metal washer 23 adjacent to an annular rubber cushion 24, beneath which there is located a perforated ear 25 integral with a T-shaped cylindrical bracket 26, through which an axle 27 passes to support a pair of front rollers 28 and 29 in the same way as a pair of rear rollers 30 and 31 are supported on the skate. Beneath the ear 25 there are a rubber washer 3ία and a metal washer 3I&amp; adjacent to the head of the screw 20. Screw-threaded on the axle 27, at each end of the T-shaped bracket 26, there is a nut 32 for holding the axle 27 tightly in the bracket

26. Outside of the nuts 32 there are carried the wooden skate rollers 28 and 29, which are provided with two annular ball races 33 and 34 provided with circular sets of balls 35 and 36 to provide ball bearings, the balls of which are retained in place by the nuts 32 on the inner faces of the wooden rollers 28 and 29 and nuts 37 on the outer faces thereof, which are also screw-threaded to the axle 27. Lock nuts 38 on the ends of the axle 27 hold the nuts 37 in locked position. Furthermore, the T-shaped axle bracket 2S has a diagonal arm support 39 which extends upwardly and is provided with a short pin 40 which passes into a rubber washer 41 which is supported upon an inclined projection 42 forming a part of the plate 14 and which is provided with a hole 43 to receive the short pin 40. As shown in Fig. 7, the strap 21 may be provided with a front hole 44 and a rear hole 45 for connection with the two skate elements 6 and 7 described above.

However, as shown in Fig. 6, instead of the strap 21 I may provide a turn-buckle rod 46 having at the two ends thereof screw-threaded rods 47 and 48 which have, respectively, spherical heads 49 and 53 to be received in universaljoint sockets 51 and 52, which have screwthreaded thereon annular retaining caps 53 and 54. Nuts 55 and 5S on these rods 47 and 48, respectively, have, together with said rods 47 and 48, right and left-hand screw-threads to cooperate with a similarly screw-threaded turnbuckle 57. Also, in this instance there are shown leather washers 58 between the nuts 22 and the metal washers 23 to compensate vertically for the thickness of the rubber washers 41, and maintain the desired angularity of the diagonal support 39.

In the operation of my invention, it will be understood that the shoe I, particularly the sole or pad 2 thereof, is not only provided with a considerable degree of elasticity, due to the pack10 '

ing 3 and the rubber or other elastic material enclosing the said packing 3, but is also capable of considerable torsional movement, respectively, between the front and rear ends of the pad on a horizontal axis. In skating with the skates constructed in accordance with my invention, . therefore, the skate elements 6 and J are mounted on a yieldable mounting so that when ; the foot is depressed at one side of the skate, this will cause a turning of the axle 27 in a horizontal arc on the inclined axis of the arm 39, thus giving turning movement to the skate. In addition thereto, in the skate made in accordance with my invention, various other movements are effected while skating. For instance, the turning movement referred to as taking place at the front of the skate can be different from the turning movement attained by the rear of the skate, due to the torsional flexibility of the shoe and pad 2 simulating the torsional movement of the respective parts of. the foot normally. Also, a very important movement of which my skates are capable is that the two skate elements 6 and 7 may move laterally as a whole with regard to each other, even without a turning movement, due to their independent mounting and the flexibility of the shoe i and pad 2. Furthermore, for similar reasons, the different portions of the two skate elements 0 and 7 are capable of different relative elevations from the floor, while supported from the latter.· Also, the two elements are, furthermore, capable of relative rotation as a whole on horizontal transverse axes of the foot above the axles 27, due to the bendability of the pad 2. Likewise, the two elements S and 7 are capable of moving towards each other as a whole, due to the: flexibility of the strap 21 and to the loose connection of the turn-buckle bar 46 therewith. In the case of the leather strap 21, the two elements 6 and 7 are capable of slight relative movement as a whole away from each other longitudinally, due to the elasticity of the strap. Also, if will be noted that the noise in skating is greatly reduced by reason of the skate elements 6 and 7 not being mounted on a single plate to act as a sounding board, but, instead, are mounted on the yieldable pad 2 of the shoe. The elimination of the noise is further greatly aided by reason of the rubber washers 31a and the rubber washers 41, in that it will be noted that the axles 27 and T-shaped brackets 26 in which they are carried are effectively floated on the yielding, elastic, rubber cushions 24, 31a, and 41 from the plates 14 and the plates 8 and 16, which in turn are supported upon the elastic pad 2 comprised of a casing of elastic rubber or other similar materials enclosing the elastic packing of cot- , ton linters or fibrous material.

In skating with the said skates, it is found that on account of the fact that the skate freely and effectively accommodates itself to the unevennesses in the floor, a better traction is obtained between the skate and the floor, thus permitting more lateral freedom of- the body and more confidence, especially in turning, than would otherwise be the case. Furthermore, the skate elements 6 and 7 are self-aligning when the skate is in use, thus eliminating the necessity of attempting exceptional accuracy of alignment in the making or mounting of the skates. Also, the strap 21 can be substituted by a shorter strap and the turn-buckle bar 46 can be shortened by turning, due to the opposed threads on the rods 47 and 48, as desired, thus improving the arch of the foot while applied to the skate. Besides, the skating equipment is light in weight, notwithstanding the flexible and elastic qualities thereof, because of the use of the packing in the pad 2 which eliminates the necessity of heavy j thick, rubber soles. In other words, the sole, comprising the pad 2, is as elastic as rubber, but much lighter. Also, the sound in skating is practically eliminated because the rollers 28, 29, 38, and 31 are practically floated on rubber supports I and, besides, are not connected together by any unitary plate to act as a sounding board. The self-alignment feature also conduces to the absence of noise. In effect, the skates made in accordance with my invention avoid binding the 1 foot to what amounts to a splint, which was pre? viously necessary with the skates as hitherto made. In skating with my skates, thus, the skate in reality moves with and is capable of substantially the same motions as the f oot in its natural 2. movements.

While I have described my invention above in detail, it is to be understood that many changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the same. For instance, in my skates, 2 a correct mounting thereof of the sole can be attained as the respective elements can be placed directly beneath the ball and heel of the foot, respectively. Also, the inclinations of the two studs 16 can be made differently to the ball and 3 heel of the shoe, respectively, according to the angle of the supporting sole portions, so as to attain different turning movements thereby, if desired.