Patent Application
20230060427
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates to a structure for a sports footwear, and more particularly to an adjustable roller skate, which is selectively adjusted in its length for accommodating user's foot growing through various sizes.
Skating, such as ice skating or roller skating, requires lots of practices to improve the skating skills whether in recreational use or in competition. For the roller skating as an example, the user puts on roller skates on both his or her feet for roller skating. Since roller skating requires lots of different skills, such as stopping or gliding, a correct fit of the roller skate will not only determine how comfortable the user wears but also define how much control, power transfer and agility the user would have while skating. Currently, there are two types of roller skates in the market. The first type is a strap on roller skate, wherein the user is able to detachably attach the strap on roller skate to his or her own shoes for skating. Since the strap on roller skate only provides two-point connection, i.e. heel and toe connections, the strap on roller skate cannot provide a full protection and force distribution for the user while skating. As a result, the user is easily get injury, especially ankle sprain, when using the strap on roller skate.
The second type is a boot type roller skate which is constructed to have a boot body for being worn and a skate device attached to a bottom of the boot body. This boot type roller skate provides a full protection and force distribution for the user while skating only when the user wears the corrected size of the roller skate. Usually, children or youngsters purchase roller skates somewhat larger than actual sizes of their feet for accommodating their feet rapid growing. Since the user's foot cannot fit in the boot body, the roller skate will be wasted. Some users have different sizes of feet that one foot is larger another foot. In other words, the users will only wear one corrected size of roller skate at one foot and wear a larger size of roller skate at another foot. It is a waste to purchase two pairs of roller skates for different sizes of user's feet and to dispose two unsuitable roller skates.
The invention is advantageous in that it provides an adjustable roller skate, which is selectively adjusted in its length for accommodating user's foot growing through various sizes.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide an adjustable roller skate, wherein a length of the adjustable roller skate is adjustable and lockable to ensure the corrected size of the roller skate for the user.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide an adjustable roller skate, which provides a full protection and force distribution for the user while skating.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide an adjustable roller skate, wherein at least two different lengths of the adjustable roller skate can be adjusted.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide an adjustable roller skate, wherein the skate device is secured in position during the adjusting operation of the adjustable roller skate for enhancing the safety of the roller skate.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide an adjustable roller skate, the adjusting operation of the adjustable roller skate is easy and simple by a depression of a button and without detaching any component of the roller skate.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide an adjustable roller skate, wherein the boot body is secured to and retained at the skate device to prevent any unwanted movement between the boot body and the skate device.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide an adjustable roller skate, wherein the boot body is able to incorporate with any existing skate device, such as an inline skate device, a quad skate device, or ice skating blade, for skating.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide an adjustable roller skate, which does not require altering the original structural design of the footwear, so as to minimize the manufacturing cost of the footwear that incorporates the adjustable roller skate.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide an adjustable roller skate, wherein no expensive or complicated structure is required to employ the present invention in order to achieve the above mentioned objectives. Therefore, the present invention successfully provides an economic and efficient solution to provide a size adjustable roller skate not only for accommodating user's foot growing through various sizes but also for providing a full protection and force distribution for the user while skating.
Additional advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the description which follows, and may be realized by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particular point out in the appended claims.
According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by an adjustable roller skate which comprises a skate device and a boot body.
The boot body comprises a base frame having a bottom side coupled to the skate device, an insole platform having a rear heel portion and a front toe portion frontwardly extended therefrom, and a vamp cover attached to the front toe portion of the insole platform. The insole platform is slidably coupled at the base frame to define an adjustable accommodating cavity between a rear end of the base frame and a front end of the insole platform, wherein the insole platform is frontwardly slid to extend the adjustable accommodating cavity at its maximum size and is rearwardly slid to reduce the adjustable accommodating cavity at its minimum size.
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
The following description is disclosed to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present invention. Preferred embodiments are provided in the following description only as examples and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The general principles defined in the following description would be applied to other embodiments, alternatives, modifications, equivalents, and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Referring to
Accordingly, the skate device 10 comprises a wheel frame 11 coupled at a bottom side of the base frame 30 and a plurality of wheels 12 rotatably coupled at the wheel frame 11. In one embodiment, the skate device 10 is embodied as a quad skate device, wherein a pair of front wheels 12 are rotatably coupled at a front portion of the wheel frame 11 and a pair of rear wheels 12 are rotatably coupled at a rear portion of the wheel frame 11. Alternatively, the skate device 10 can be embodied as an inline skate device, wherein the wheels 12 are aligned along and rotatably coupled at the wheel frame 11. Preferably, the skate device 10 further comprises a brake element 13 extended from a front end of the wheel frame 11.
The base frame 30 is made of rigid material to form a barebone structure of the adjustable roller skate for protecting the user from being injury. Particularly, the base frame 30 has an elongated configured to support the bottom of the foot.
The insole platform 40, which is also made of rigid material, has a rear heel portion 41 and a front toe portion 42 frontwardly extended therefrom, wherein the insole platform 40 is supported by the base frame 30 to form a foot support for supporting the bottom of the foot. Accordingly, the insole platform 40 is slidably coupled at the base frame 30 to define an adjustable accommodating cavity 401 between a rear end of the base frame 30 and a front end of the insole platform 40 so as to selectively adjust the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 between a maximum size and a minimum size. Particularly, when the insole platform 40 is slid fronwardly with respect to the base frame 30, the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 is prolonged to its maximum size. When the insole platform 40 is slid rearwardly with respect to the base frame 30, the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 is reduced to its minimum size. Therefore, the user is able to purchase and fittingly wear the adjustable roller skate in response to the minimum size of the adjustable accommodating cavity 401. Then, the user is able to gradually increase the adjustable accommodating cavity 401, by frontwardly sliding the insole platform 40, for accommodating user's foot growing.
The vamp cover 50 is attached to the front toe portion 42 of the insole platform 40 for covering an instep of the user. The vamp cover 50 is made of durable fabric attached to the front toe portion 42 for receiving the front portion of the foot within the front toe portion 42 of the insole platform 40 and the vamp cover 50. It is worth mentioning that when the insole platform 40 is moved with respect to the base frame 30 to selectively adjust the adjustable accommodating cavity 401, the vamp cover 50 is moved corresponding to the insole platform 40. In other words, the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 is able to not only adjust its length by sliding the insole platform 40 but also adjust its height via the corresponding movement of the vamp cover 50 through the insole platform 40.
According to the preferred embodiment, the base frame 30 comprises a heel shelter 31 encircling around the heel portion 41 of the insole platform 40 and a sliding guider 32 frontwardly extended from the heel shelter 41 to slidably couple at the toe portion 42 of the insole platform 40. Preferably, the sliding guiding 32 is frontwardly and integrally extended from the heel shelter 31. Therefore, when the insole platform 40 is frontwardly slid at the sliding guider 32 away from the heel shelter 31, a distance between the rear end of the base frame 30 and the front end of the insole platform 40 is prolonged to extend the adjustable accommodating cavity 401. When the insole platform 40 is rearwardly slid at the sliding guider 32 toward the heel shelter 31, the distance between the rear end of the base frame 30 and the front end of the insole platform 40 is reduced to reduce the adjustable accommodating cavity 401.
It is worth mentioning that when the insole platform 40 is move frontwardly from the base frame 30 to adjust the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 at its maximum size, a gap is formed between the rear end of the base frame 30 and a rear end of the insole platform 40. When the insole platform 40 is move rearwardly from the base frame 30 to adjust the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 at its minimum size, the gap is closed by sliding the rear end of the insole platform 40 at the rear end of the base frame 30. Once the rear end of the insole platform 40 is blocked by the rear end of the base frame 30, the insole platform 40 cannot be further slid rearwardly.
As shown in
The insole platform 40 further has a sliding slot 43 formed at a bottom side of the toe portion 41 of the insole platform 40 to slidably engage with the sliding guider 32 of the base frame 30. Accordingly, the insole platform 40 has two guiding edges 44 downwardly extended from two side edges of the toe portion 41 of the insole platform 40 to define the sliding slot 43 between the guiding edges 44. Preferably, each of the guiding edges 44 has a L-shaped cross section, wherein two side edges of the sliding guider 32 are slidably engaged with the guiding edges 44. Preferably, the guiding edges 44 are further extended fronwardly to integrally form a one piece U-shape guiding edge to encircle around the toe portion 41 of the insole platform 40.
According to the preferred embodiment, the boot body 10 further comprises a retention arrangement 60 for limiting a sliding movement of the insole platform 40 with respect to the base frame 30. In one embodiment, the retention arrangement 60 has a limiting slot 61 formed at the insole platform 40 and comprises a limiting member 62 extended from the base frame 30 to slidably engage with the limiting slot 61. Accordingly, the limiting slot 61 is an elongated straight through slot formed at the toe portion 42 of the insole platform 40 at a direction along the sliding direction of the insole platform 40, wherein the limiting slot 61 has a predetermined length defining a front end as a front stopping point and a rear end as a rear stopper point.
The limiting member 62 is upwardly extended from the sliding guider 32 of the base frame 30 to slidably engage with the limiting slot 61. When the insole platform 40 is slid to stop the limiting member 62 at the front end of the limiting slot 61, the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 is retained at the minimum size. When the insole platform 40 is slid to stop the limiting member 62 at the rear end of the limiting slot 61, the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 is retained at the maximum size. Preferably, a width of the limiting slot 61 is slightly larger than a width of the limiting member 62, such that when the limiting member 62 is slid along the limiting slot 61, the width of the limiting slot 61 is guided the sliding movement of the limiting member 62 so as to prevent any unwanted movement of the insole platform 40.
The boot body 10 further comprises a locking arrangement 70 for locking the insole platform 40 at the base frame 30 to retain the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 at the maximum size and the minimum size. In one embodiment, the locking arrangement 70 comprises a locking arm 71 slidably coupled at the base frame 30 and two or more locking latches 72 spacedly provided at the insole platform 40, wherein the locking arm 71 is selectively engaged with one of the locking latches 72 when sliding the insole platform 40. Accordingly, when the insole platform 40 is slid to engage the first locking latch 72 with the locking arm 71, the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 is retained at the maximum size. When the insole platform 40 is slid to engage the second locking latch 72 with the locking arm 71, the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 is retained at the minimum size.
Accordingly, the locking latches 72 are located space apart with each other, such that the locking arm 71 can only engage with one of the locking latches 72 when sliding the insole platform 40.
The locking arrangement 70 further comprises an actuation button 73 provided at the base frame 30 to actuate the locking arm 71 between a locked position and an unlocked position. In one embodiment, the actuation button 73 is a spring loaded button provided at the heel shelter 31 of the base frame 30, wherein when the actuation button 73 is pressed, the locking arm 71 is pushed at the unlocked position to disengage with one of the locking latches 72. When the depressing force is released from the actuation button 73, the locking arm 71 is moved at the locked position and is returned back to its original position to engage with one of the locking latches 72.
Preferably, the locking arrangement 70 further comprises a third locking latches 72 located between the first and second locking latches 72. As it is mentioned above, when the first locking latch 72 is engaged with the locking arm 71, the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 is retained at the maximum size as shown in
According to the preferred embodiment, the skate device 10 is replaceably coupled to the boot body 20. Particularly, the base frame 30 further comprises a first coupling member 33 downwardly extended from the heel shelter 31 and a second coupling member 34 downwardly extended from the sliding guider 32, wherein the skate device 10 is replaceably coupled at the first and second coupling members 33, 34. In one embodiment, the first coupling member 33 has a first coupling hole 331 and the second coupling member 34 has a second coupling hole 341, wherein the wheel frame 11 of the skate device 10 is detachably coupled at the first and second coupling members 33, 34 via the first and second coupling holes 331, 341. In one example, the wheel frame 11 has two frame holes aligned with the first and second coupling holes 331, 341 when the wheel frame 11 is coupled at the first and second coupling members 33, 34, wherein two fastener units, such as bolts and nuts, are fastened at the frame holes and the first and second coupling holes 331, 341 to couple the skate device 10 at the bottom of the base frame 30 of the boot body 20.
In order to further provide a full protection of the adjustable roller skate, the boot body further comprises an ankle protection cover 81 movably coupled at the heel shelter 31 of the base frame 30, a first strapping unit 82 extended between two sides of the heel shelter 31 at a position above the vamp cover 50, and a second strapping unit 83 extended between two sides of the ankle protection cover 81.
As shown in
The first strapping unit 82 is extended between two sides of the heel shelter 31 to selectively adjust a distance therebetween for fittingly tightening the foot of the user in the adjustable accommodating cavity 401. In other words, after the instep of the user is covered by the shoe vamp 50, the first strapping unit 82 is adjusted to tighten the foot of the user in the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 so as to prevent any unwanted foot movement therein. In one embodiment, the first strapping unit 82 comprises an elongated fastening strap extended from one side of the heel shelter 31 and a fastening ring provided at another side of the heel shelter 31, wherein the fastening strap is extended through the fastening ring and is overlappedly folded to selectively adjust a tightening distance of the fastening strap. Preferably, hook and loop fasteners are provided on one surface of the fastening strap, such that the fastening strap can be overlapped and fastened itself after passing through the fastening ring.
The second strapping unit 83 is extended between two sides of the ankle protection cover 81 for tightening the ankle of the user therewithin. In one embodiment, the second strapping unit 83 comprises two second strapping elements movably extended from the two sides of the ankle protection cover 81, wherein the two second strapping elements are buckled with each other to selectively adjust a tightening length between the second strapping elements. One of the first strapping elements is an elongated strap while another first strapping element is a buckling element to buckle with the strap.
Accordingly, the user is able to purchase the adjustable roller skate by matching the foot size of the user with the minimum size of the adjustable accommodating cavity 401. Then, when the foot of the user grows bigger, the user is able to enlarge the adjustable accommodating cavity 401 by simply sliding the insole platform 40 from the base frame 30.
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
