INLINE ROLLER SKATE CONFIGURATIONS
Configurations of an inline roller skate comprising a base, wheels, and at least one rocker pivotally mounted to the base and receiving at least two of the wheels. In accordance with one aspect, the inline roller skate further comprises a bias element positioned between the rocker and the base and biasing the rocker to an equilibrium position relative to the base. In accordance with an other aspect, the inline roller skate further comprises a rocker stop made integral to the base and defining a limit to the pivoting movement of the rocker in one angular direction by abutment therewith. In accordance with an other aspect, the inline roller skate further comprises a brake made integral to the base and having a concave frictional surface with an inversed-V shape.
The present improvements generally relate to the field of inline roller skates, and more particularly to inline roller skates having at least two wheels mounted on a pivotable wheel mount or rocker.
BACKGROUNDThe use of pivotable wheel mounts in inline roller skates is disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,071 to Soo, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,551, to Roy.
While such systems have been satisfactory to a certain degree, there was still a need to provide improvements.
SUMMARYAn aim is to alleviate at least one drawback of prior art inline roller skates with pivotable wheel mounts.
In accordance with one aspect, there is provided an inline roller skate comprising: a base, wheels, at least one rocker pivotally mounted to the base and receiving at least two of the wheels, and a bias element positioned between the rocker and the base and biasing the pivotally mounted rocker to an angular equilibrium position.
In accordance with an other aspect, there is provided an inline roller skate comprising: a base, wheels, at least one rocker pivotally mounted to the base and receiving at least two of the wheels, and a rocker stop made integral to the base and defining a limit to the pivoting of the rocker in one angular direction by abutment therewith at a maximal pivot position of the rocker, said rocker stop preventing the at least two wheels of the rocker from contacting the base when the rocker is in the maximal pivot position.
In accordance with an other aspect, there is provided an inline roller skate comprising: a base, wheels, a brake made integral to the base, the brake having a braking surface, and at least one rocker pivotally mounted to the base and receiving at least two of the wheels, including an endmost wheel of the inline roller skate, the endmost wheel of the inline roller skate being angularly displaceable with the rocker between a freely rotating position and a braking position, in which braking position the endmost wheel is in frictional engagement with the braking surface of the brake, wherein the frictional engagement generates a braking force when the wheel is pivoted into the braking position by a user.
In accordance with an other aspect, a solution is to provide an inline roller skate comprising: a base, wheels, a brake made integral to the base, the brake having a concave surface having opposite sides generally arranged in the shape of an inversed-V and an apex, and at least one rocker pivotally mounted to the base and receiving at least two of the wheels, including an endmost wheel of the inline roller skate, the endmost wheel of the inline roller skate being angularly displaceable with the rocker between a freely rotating position and a braking position, in which braking position respective opposite side portions of the endmost wheel are in frictional engagement with a respective one of the opposite sides of the concave surface, and the apex of the concave surface is free from the endmost wheel, wherein the opposite sides of the concave surface generate respective braking forces with the wheel when the wheel is pivoted into the braking position by a user.
Further features and advantages of the present improvements will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in combination with the appended figures, in which:
Referring to
Referring to
The rocker 28 includes a right side rocker member 44 and a left side rocker member 46 which are mirror images of each other (this is more clearly depicted in
Two opposing bias elements 52, 54 angularly bias the rocker 28 to an angular equilibrium position, each in a respective angular direction 38, 42. The bias elements 52, 54 generate a returning force to return the rocker 28 to the equilibrium position by default when no other forces are at play. In this example, the bias elements 52, 54 include a right side resilient member 56 in compression between the right side rocker member 44 and a respective receiving portion 57 (
An uneven adjustment between the front portion 60 and the rear portion 62 of the rubber bushings 56a, 58a can result in an equilibrium position that is different from the normal position. For example, the equilibrium position can be selectively positioned slightly in a forward angular direction 38 or rearward angular direction 42 relative to the normal position.
The rear brake 43 is made integral to the base 12. The rearmost wheel 14 can be pushed into the brake 43 by being pivoted in a rearward angular direction 42 by a user, as depicted in
Turning to
The rubber bushing 56a acts as two opposed bias elements 52, 54, a fore bias element 54 and a rear bias element 52. The fore portion 60 of the rubber bushing 56a acts against the fore arm 48 of the rocker 28 to bias the rocker 28 in a rear angular direction 42, whereas the rear portion 62 of the rubber bushing 56a acts against the rear arm 50 of the rocker 28 to bias the rocker 28 in a forward angular direction 38. The proportion between the compression force applied by the fore portion 60 of the rubber bushing 56a and the rear portion 62 of the rubber bushing 56a determines the equilibrium position. When these compression forces are equal at the neutral position illustrated, the equilibrium position corresponds to the neutral position. It will be noted here that some types of resilient members, such as relatively hard resilient members, are not necessarily held in a pre-compressed state when in the equilibrium position, and thus only apply a returning force when the rocker is pivoted out from the equilibrium position.
Because the rubber bushing 56a is pre-compressed, pivoting the rocker 28 in a rear angular direction 42 results in increasing the force applied by the rear portion 62 of the rubber bushing 56a, and lowering the force applied by the fore portion 60 of the rubber bushing 56a, and vice-versa when the rocker 28 is pivoted in the forward angular direction. The resulting returning force thus corresponds to the difference between the force applied by the fore portion 60 and the force applied by the rear portion 62 in this case.
The selection of the depth of the channel 57a, the compressibility of the rubber bushing 56a, the pre-compressive force present in the rubber bushing 56a, and the space defined between the channel and the rocker member are design considerations which influence the action of the resilient members. Typically, the respective widths of the rocker members 44, 46 and of the channels 57a, 59a allow the rocker 28 to penetrate into the channels 57a, 59a upon sufficient pivoting (this is depicted in
In alternate embodiments, the rubber bushings 56a, 58a can be held to the receiving portions 57, 59 of the base 12 (
Rubber bushings are subject to wear, and it can be advantageous that the configuration of the inline roller skate allows their replacement. Further, the amount of returning force resulting from a given angular displacement of the rocker is a function of the resilient member used. Therefore, it can be advantageous to offer the possibility to a user to select the type of resilient member used according to his personal returning force needs. The uncompressed thickness and compressibility of replacement resilient members can be selected depending of the amount of pre-compression and response force desired. These considerations render it advantageous to provide an inline roller skate having a configuration which allows the removal and replacement or interchange ability of the resilient members by a user.
The rocker members 44, 46 can be removed by disassembling the rocker shaft 66 (
As an alternative, specialized inline roller skates can be designed with relatively high pre-compressive forces to satisfy a certain class of users. However, the configuration of such specialized roller skates may require the services of a qualified technician to replace worn resilient members or interchange resilient members with resilient members having different response characteristics.
A solution which allows to maintain the user-interchangeability feature of the resilient members while allowing the application of a greater pre-compressive force is to allow application of an external pre-compressive force to at least a portion of the resilient members following the reassembly of the rocker. This can be achieved for example by the use of externally operable pressure applicators 76, 78, such as the pressure adjustment screws 76a, 78a depicted in
Immediately after reassembly of the rocker 28, with the pressure screws 76a, 78a unscrewed, the pre-compression in the rubber bushing 56a can be kept below a reasonable threshold, and even be nil. The pre-compression can then be increased to the desired level by adjusting the depth of penetration of the pressure screws 76a, 78a. It can be advantageous to provide a pressure distribution plate 82 between the channel bottom 72 and the rubber bushing 56a. This allows to reduce pressure concentrations in the rubber bushing 56a and contributes to reduce potential damage thereto which could result from direct application of pressure by the screws 78a, 76a. Here also, the right side and the left side of the inline roller skate 10 are mirror images, and the explanation does not require repetition for the left side.
In the alternate configuration presented in
An alternate solution to the application of an external pre-compressive force to at least a portion of the resilient members following the reassembly of the rocker is to provide an inline roller skate with a configuration, a mechanism or a tool which eases the application of pre-compressive forces during reassembly of the rocker.
When the rubber bushings are interchangeable, the inline roller skate can advantageously be provided in a kit with two or more types of rubber bushings. For example, rubber bushings of different colors can correspond to rubber bushings offering a different response force. For example, a first set of rubber bushings having a first color can correspond to an aggressive response, i.e. a strong restoring force for a given pivotal displacement, which can be achieved by using a material with lower compressibility for a given pre-compression; whereas a second set of rubber bushings having a second color can correspond to a touring response, i.e. a relatively weak restoring force for a given pivotal displacement. Intermediate sets of rubber bushings can also be provided in the kit.
As an alternative, or in addition to being used to provide a higher pre-compression in the rubber bushings, pressure screws can be used where desired to allow “fine tuning” of the response force offered by a given set of rubber bushings. Pressure screws can also advantageously be used to adjust the response force offered by a rubber bushing as this response force diminishes subsequently to wear or aging, for example.
Although rubber bushings are used in the illustrated example, it is to be understood that resilient members made of different types of elastic compressible materials can be used instead. For illustrative purposes, rubber bushings having a hardness between 40 and 60 Duro were found satisfactory when used on the example illustrated.
As discussed above, the resilient members illustrated act as two opposing bias elements. Instead of being provided as single resilient members 56 having both a fore portion 60 and a rear portion 62, the resilient members can be provided as two cooperating resilient members including a fore resilient member 160 and a rear resilient member 162. Such an alternative is illustrated in
In alternate configurations where resilient members are used, the resilient members can be other than compressible materials. Springs can be used, for example. Also, the resilient members can be connected to both the base and the rocker to be used in tension only, or both in tension and compression. It is also possible to use other types of bias elements than resilient members. For example, a sealed pneumatic chamber positioned above a respective arm of the rocker can be used to bias the rocker to an equilibrium position.
The use of a rocker which carries at least two wheels when the pivoting movement of the rocker is not limited has one drawback. When the rocker exceeds a given angular displacement span, a respective one of the rocker wheels can come into interference with the base, i.e. into frictional contact therewith, and a braking action stemming from the friction between the wheel and the base can result. This braking action can be advantageously harnessed in specific circumstances by providing a brake in combination with either one, or both, of the endmost wheels of the inline roller skate (i.e. the foremost and the rearmost wheels). Such a brake in combination with the rearmost wheel is depicted in
A solution to this drawback is to limit the angular displacement span of one or more rockers. The angular displacement span of a rocker can be limited in one or both angular direction by the use of respective rocker stops associated with the base which prevent rotational interference of the wheels with the base.
In
Rocker stops (such as 86, 87, and 88) can be used with or without a respective bias element (such as 55, 53, or 54, respectively), though it is often advantageous to combine them with a respective bias element (55, 53, 54), an opposite bias element (such as 53, 55 and 52, respectively), or both. For illustrative purposes, the front rocker stop 86 and the rear rocker stop 87 of the front rocker 26 are shown used in combination with a respective front rubber bushing 160 and rear rubber bushing 162. The front rocker stop 88 of the rear rocker is shown used in combination with a respective front portion 60 of a rubber bushing 56a, and with an opposite rear portion 62 of the rubber bushing 56a. Using a rocker stop in combination with a respective bias element is advantageous because it allows to soften impacts between the rocker and the rocker stop, it also allows to bias the rocker away from the rocker stop.
For greater clarity, the front rocker stops 86, 88 of the front rocker 26 and rear rocker 28 are shown in perspective views in
In alternate embodiments, a rocker can advantageously have only one bias element opposite a rocker stop. For example, a front rocker can have only a front rubber bushing instead of having both a front rubber bushing and a rear rubber bushing, and have a rear rocker stop. The front rubber bushing biases the front rocker toward the equilibrium position by application of a force against the front arm of the front rocker, and the equilibrium position can be maintained by abutment of the rear arm of the front rocker against the rear rocker stop. As it can be seen therefore, many possible combinations of bias elements and rocker stops are envisaged.
Although all wheels are susceptible to angular displacement due to pivoting of the respective rocker, the endmost wheels are the most susceptible to angular displacement. Therefore, when a rear brake is used, it can be advantageous to equally use a rocker stop associated with the foremost wheel, and vice-versa if a front brake is used. If no brake is used, it can be advantageous to provide at minimum a rocker stop associated with both endmost wheels.
To offer to the user versatility and personalization of the angular displacement span of one or more rockers, one or more rocker stops can be made adjustable. An example of an adjustable front rocker stop 286 for the front rocker 226 is illustrated in
An adjustable rocker stop can also be advantageously used in combination with a brake. The adjustable rocker stop can thus be adjusted by the user to selectively turn the brake on or off, by selectively allowing angular access of the endmost wheel to the brake or preventing the angular access. A rocker stop used in combination with a brake can alternately be made to have only two positions (on and off), instead of being precisely adjustable.
A pivotable rocker stop 394 is illustrated in
The use of a brake is optional. If a brake is used, it can be used with either one, or both, of the endmost wheels (i.e. foremost and rearmost wheels) as long as the endmost wheel is mounted to a rocker which allows access of the endmost wheel to the brake. As it is shown for example in
The brake can advantageously have a concave surface 98 generally shaped as an inversed-V, such as can be more clearly seen in
The brake can advantageously be provided as a removable insert 43a in order to allow replacement thereof following wear. As depicted in
The material of the brake 43 can advantageously be made softer than the material of the braking wheel 14a, in order to reduce wear of the braking wheel 14 which could be caused by the brake 43. The material of the brake 43 can also be somewhat abradable, and preferably offers a relatively high amount of friction during contact with the material of the braking wheel 14a. Rubber can be used, for example.
The braking response force of the brake will vary depending on the type of material used therefore, and the angle of the inversed-V shape. Typically, a softer material such as rubber will wear faster, but will offer a greater breaking response upon a given pivotal force created by the user. A harder material such as a plastic will have improved durability but lower response. The brake is optional. In configurations where a brake is used, the brake acts as the rearmost rocker stopper, and the rearmost stoppers can be absent. However, the rearmost stoppers can still be present to operate in the event where the removable brake insert is removed by the user, for example.
In the illustrated embodiments, the base 12 is provided as a component which is shaped to receive a boot 99 (
Also, although symmetrical rockers are depicted, alternate rockers can connect the wheels in a cantilevered fashion on only one side instead of having two rocker members. The use of two rocker members is advantageous because greater stability of the wheels can be achieved.
The distance between the wheel and the brake can be made adjustable, and it can be made possible to adjust the position of the brake relative to the body, for example. This can allow a user to personalize the degree of response offered by the brake. Also, the brake can be made removable.
As can be seen therefore, the examples described above and illustrated are intended to be exemplary only. The scope of the inventive concepts is intended to be determined solely by the appended claims.
Claims
1. An inline roller sate comprising: a base, wheels, at least one rocker pivotally mounted to the base and receiving at least two of the wheels, and a bias element positioned between the rocker and the base and biasing the pivotally mounted rocker to an angular equilibrium position.
2. The inline roller skate of claim 1 comprising two bias elements, each bias element biasing the rocker in a respective angular direction, wherein the two bias elements are provided as at least one compressible resilient member.
3. The inline roller skate of claim 2 wherein the at least one compressible resilient member is in a compressed state when the rocker is in the equilibrium position.
4. The inline roller skate of claim 2 further comprising at least one pressure applicator mounted to the base in communication with the at least one resilient member and being externally operable to vary a pressure within at least a portion of the at least one resilient member.
5. The inline roller skate of claim 4 wherein a pressure diffuser is provided between the pressure applicator and the at least one resilient member.
6. The inline roller skate of claim 1 further comprising at least one rocker stop made integral to the base and positioned to abut against the pivotally mounted rocker upon pivoting thereof to prevent contact between the at least two wheels and the base.
7. The inline roller skate of claim 1 wherein the at least two wheels include an endmost wheel of the inline roller skate, further comprising a brake having an inversed-V shape braking surface recessed in the base and positioned to brakingly receive the endmost wheel upon a controlled pivoting of the rocker by a user.
8. The inline roller skate of claim 1 wherein the equilibrium position corresponds to an operating position of the at least two wheels when the inline roller skate is in idle use on a flat surface.
9. An inline roller skate comprising: a base, wheels, at least one rocker pivotally mounted to the base and receiving at least two of the wheels, and a rocker stop made integral to the base and defining a limit to a pivoting of the rocker in one angular direction by abutment therewith at a maximal pivot position of the rocker, said rocker stop preventing the at least two wheels of the rocker from contacting the base when the rocker is in the maximal pivot position.
10. The inline roller skate of claim 9 further comprising a bias element positioned between the rocker and the base and biasing the pivotally mounted rocker to an angular equilibrium position.
11. The inline roller skate of claim 9 wherein the at least two wheels include an endmost wheel of the inline roller skate, further comprising a brake having an inversed-V shape braking surface recessed in the base and positioned to brakingly receive the endmost wheel upon a controlled pivoting of the rocker by a user.
12. The inline roller skate of claim 9 wherein the position of the rocker stop is adjustable.
13. An inline roller skate comprising: a base, wheels, a brake made integral to the base, the brake having a concave surface having opposite sides generally arranged in a shape of an inversed-V and an apex, and at least one rocker pivotally mounted to the base and receiving at least two of the wheels, including an endmost wheel of the inline roller skate, the endmost wheel of the inline roller skate being angularly displaceable with the rocker between a freely rotating position and a braking position, in which braking position respective opposite side portions of the endmost wheel are in frictional engagement with a respective one of the opposite sides of the concave surface, and the apex of the concave surface is free from the endmost wheel, wherein the opposite sides of the concave surface generate respective braking forces with the wheel when the wheel is pivoted into the braking position by a user.
14. The inline roller skate of claim 13 wherein the brake is provided as a removable brake insert.
15. The inline roller skate of claim 13 further comprising a bias element positioned between the rocker and the base and biasing the pivotally mounted rocker to an angular equilibrium position.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 28, 2008
Publication Date: Feb 11, 2010
Applicant: DESIGN NEWRON INC. (SAINT-HENEDINE, QC)
Inventors: Alain Roy (Sainte-Henedine), Pierre Harvey (Saint-Ferreol-Les-Neiges)
Application Number: 12/525,011
International Classification: A63C 17/04 (20060101);