Roller skate construction having pivotal heel

In a roller skate including a platform element and a wheeled means at forward and rearward ends thereof and having means for engaging the foot of the user to an upper surface of said platform element, improved means for permitting lateral movement of a rear portion of said platform relative to a principal axis of said platform comprising:

• a rear wheel element including a body secured to said platform element at the rearward end thereof, at least one caster mounted upon and extending downwardly from a lower surface of said body, said caster including a vertically extending shaft pivotally associated with said body, a caster housing carried by said shaft, and a wheel arranged for rotation about a horizontal axis offset with respect to the axis of said vertically extending shaft;
• and at least one wheel on said rear wheel element, the axis of which is fixed perpendicular to the principal axis of said skate, and positioned such that the lower periphery thereof continuously lies in a common horizontal plane with the lower periphery of said wheel of said caster and said forward wheeled means whereby when said user executes a pivotal movement about said forward end of said skate, said last mentioned wheel is slid laterally with relative little rotation to provide a measure of frictional resistance to the pivoting motion, thereby enabling said user to better control said pivotal movement.