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US 6,267,389 B1Granted
Skate with tiltable foot support
OwnerJames D. Veltmeyerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A skate particularly adapted for speed contests has a foot-receiving boot hinged about a fore-foot section of the sole to a in-line wheel-mounting or blade-mounting truck so that the heel-section of the boot can be rotatively lifted away from the truck while keeping the skate is full contact with the skating surface. The boot is biased down toward the truck by a strong spring in a first embodiment of the invention, or by the resiliency of a hinge-forming web linking the boot to the truck in an alternate embodiment. A quickly set mechanism is provided to lock the boot onto the truck to turn the device into a conventional skate.
Claims15
A skating apparatus which comprises:
- a ground-contacting assembly including a low-friction structure for supporting contact with a ground surface;
- a foot-supporting assembly mounted upon said ground-contacting assembly and including a foot-receiving structure having a fore-foot section and a heel section;
- means for hingedly connecting said foot-supporting assembly to said ground-contacting assembly about said fore foot section;
- and
- means for resiliently biasing said heel section toward said ground-contacting assembly;
- wherein said low-friction structure comprises a plurality of ground contacting points including a most forwardly located point and a most rearwardly located point;
- wherein said means for hingedly connecting has a pivoting axis located between vertical lines respectively passing through said most forwardly located point and most rearwardly located point;
- and
- wherein said means for hingedly connecting comprise a web of resiliently flexible synthetic material joining said fore-foot section to said ground-contacting assembly.
6 more elements
A skating apparatus which comprises:
- a ground-contacting assembly including a low-friction structure for supporting contact with a ground surface;
- a foot-supporting assembly mounted upon said ground-contacting assembly and including a foot-receiving structure having a fore-foot section and a heel section:
- means for hingedly connecting said foot-supporting assembly to said ground-contacting assembly about said fore-foot section;
- and
- means for resiliently biasing said heel section toward said ground-contacting assembly at all angular positions between said foot-supporting assembly and said ground-contacting assembly;
- wherein said low-friction structure comprises a plurality of ground-contacting points including a most forwardly located point and a most rearwardly located point;
- and
- said means for hingedly connecting has a pivoting axis located between vertical lines respectively passing through said most forwardly located point and most rearwardly located point;
- wherein said means for hingedly connecting comprise:
- a head extending upwardly from said ground-contacting assembly;
- a pair of parallelly spaced-apart blades extending downwardly from said fore-foot section astride said head;
- and
- means for pivotally joining said head to said pair of blades about said pivoting axis;
- wherein said means for resiliently biasing comprise a coil spring wound about said pivoting axis, and having a first end connected to said fore-foot section and a second, opposite end connected to said ground-contacting assembly.
11 more elements
A skating apparatus which comprises:
- a ground-contacting assembly including a low-friction structure for supporting contact with a ground surface;
- a foot-supporting assembly mounted upon said ground-contacting assembly and including a foot-receiving structure having a fore-foot section and a heel section;
- means for hingedly connecting said foot-supporting assembly to said ground-contacting assembly about said fore-foot section;
- and
- means for resiliently biasing said heel section toward said ground-contacting assembly at all angular positions between said foot-supporting assembly and said ground-contacting assembly;
- wherein said low-friction structure comprises a plurality of ground-contacting points including a most forwardly located point and a most rearwardly located point;
- and
- said means for hingedly connecting has a pivoting axis located between vertical lines respectively passing through said most forwardly located point and most rearwardly located point;
- wherein said means for hingedly connecting comprise a web of resiliently flexible synthetic material joining said fore-foot section to said ground-contacting assembly.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.