This application claims priority benefit of Hong Kong Short-Term Patent No. HK1069278 filed on Nov. 19, 2004, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a roller skate, and in particular to a roller skate whose wheel can be easily attachable and detachable.
Various roller skates emerge as the roller skating becomes popular. In order to provide the roller skating fans with a kind of shoes for both walking and skating, the so-called “Gustily Walking Shoes” appears on the market, which comprises in-line wheels at the heel, the wheels being in a same plane as the sole. The wearer can walk as usual, and skate by lifting the tiptoe on the ground suitable for roller skating. Although such Gustily Walking Shoes have both functions of walking and skating, the wearer must lift the front sole of the foot while straining at the heel during skating, unable to skate easily with normal posture.
The patent patents CN2481375Y, CN2456777Y and US2002/0163143A1 also disclose some roller skates having retractable wheels. Such shoes are characterized in that the sole comprises a recess for receiving the wheels which can be stretched out of or folded in the recess, thereby achieving both functions of skating and walking. Nevertheless, the wheels are still received inside the recess of the shoe sole when not in use and thus burden the user during walking. In addition, since the wheels have to be received at an underside of the shoe, the diameter of the wheel will be limited such that the speedy and laborsaving effect during skating will be watered down.
The patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,344,621B1 also discloses a roller skate, which becomes a roller skate by engaging the sole and wheel portion through a threaded joint member, or becomes shoes for normal walking by loosening the threaded joint member. The drawback of such shoes is that the threaded engagement requires particular tools and the wheels can not be freely attached and detached during wearing, which leads to inconvenience of use.
In view of the various problems existing in the prior art, the object of the present invention is to provide a roller skate with wheels which are easily attachable and detachable. The wearer can attach and detach the wheels according to the places or his own favor, freely convertible between walking and skating.
In order to achieve the above said object, the present invention provide a roller skate including a shoe body and a wheel portion, the sole of the shoe body being provided with a front slot and a rear slot, and the wheel portion including a front wheel assembly and a rear wheel assembly. The front wheel assembly includes a front support which has a T-shaped upper end to engage with said front slot and a lower end mounted with a front wheel axle, a front wheel mounted on said front wheel axle, and a front cross beam perpendicularly connected to the middle part of said front support. The rear wheel assembly includes a rear support which has a T-shaped upper end to engage with said front slot and a lower end mounted with a rear wheel axle, a rear wheel mounted on said rear wheel axle, and a rear cross beam perpendicularly connected to the middle part of said rear support. Said front cross beam and rear cross beam are detachably engaged so as to form a stable rigid cross beam.
The present invention provides a shoe that can be easily converted from a walking or running shoe to a roller skate and vice versa by convenient attachment and detachment of the wheel portions without tools. It is comfortable for the wearer to skate with such roller skate because the sole of foot is placed in normal status. Moreover, there is no limitation to the size of the roller.
The present invention is described with reference to the following drawings.
As shown in the
The front cross beam 10 and the rear cross beam 14 may take any engagement structure which is detachable. According to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the front cross beam 10 has a first engaging shaft 16 with a first hook engaging end 18, and a first sleeve 19, which is coaxial with the first engaging shaft 16 and can move relatively to the first engaging shaft 16. The first coil spring 30 is located between the first engaging shaft 16 and the first sleeve 19, one end thereof being fixed to the first sleeve 19 and the other end being fixed to the engaging shaft 16. The first engaging shaft 16 is longer than the first sleeve 19 such that the first hook engaging end 18 protrudes out of the first sleeve 19. The rear cross beam 14 has a second engaging shaft 17 with a second hook engaging end 21, and a second sleeve 20, which is coaxial with the second engaging shaft 17 and can not move relatively. The second engaging shaft 17 is longer than the second sleeve 20 such that the second hook engaging end 21 protrudes out of the second sleeve 20. The first engaging shaft 16 and the second engaging shaft 17 have same diameter. The first hook engaging end 18 and the second hook engaging end 21 have shapes complementary to each other, which can be engaged together to form a shaft shape having uniform diameter. As shown in
The rear cross beam 14 also comprises a second coil spring 22 located between the second sleeve 20 and the second engaging shaft 17, and a lock piece tube 23. The second hook engaging end 21 is provided with a stopper with spring for stopping the lock piece tube 23 when the second hook engaging end 21 is not engaged with the first hook engaging end 18, such that the lock piece tube 23 does not protrude out of the second sleeve 20. In this case, the coil spring 22 is in a state of being compressed. The stopper may be a stopping arm 24 which can rotate about a pin axis 25 disposed at the second hook engaging end 21, the stopping arm 24 including a first arm portion extending horizontally and a second arm portion substantially perpendicular to the first arm portion. In addition, there is a band spring 26 for supporting the second arm portion. When the first and the second hook engaging ends are engaged, the first arm portion of the stopping arm is pressed down so as to drive the second arm portion to retract radially, and the band spring 26 is deformed under force. When the lock piece tube 23 is loosened from the stopping status, it extends forwards under the restoring force of the spring 22 and enters into between the first sleeve 19 and the first engaging shaft 16. In order to prevent the lock piece tube 23 from swaying in axial direction or springing out unexpectedly when the front and the rear cross beams are disengaged, a limit protrusion may be formed on the outer surface of the lock piece tube, while a closed elongate opening is correspondingly formed on the second sleeve 20 for limiting the sliding of the lock piece tube. For the sake of good appearance and safety, a slot cover may be formed to surround the opening and to cover said limit protrusion at the same time.
Preferably, the first sleeve 19 comprises a claw 32 at the front end portion adjacent to the first engaging end, the tip of which claw is drawn in radially. The claw may be one or more distributed uniformly along the circumference. When it is required to disengage the front and the rear cross beams, the user pulls the first sleeve 19 forcibly such that it moves forwards by overcoming the acting force of the first coil spring 30. The claw 32 abuts against the lock piece tube 23 and pushes it back to the second sleeve 20. The lock piece tube 23 compresses the coil spring 22 backwardly. When the lock piece tube 23 crosses over the first hook engaging end 18, the first hook engaging end 18 is disengaged with the second hook engaging end 21 and no longer presses down the first arm portion of the stopping arm 24. In this way, the second arm portion of the stopping arm 24 protrudes radially along the second engaging shaft 17 under the restoring force of the band spring 26, and the lock piece tube 23 retracting along the second engaging shaft 17 and crossing over the second arm portion is stopped by the protruded second arm portion, and is prevented from springing out under the resilient force of the compressed coil spring 22. At this time, the user loosens the first sleeve 18, which is restored under the restoring force of the second coil spring 30. In order to realize the above operation, the length and position of the claw 32 protruding out of the first sleeve 18 are designed not to interfere with the second arm portion protruding radially. The protruding second arm portion is preferably flush with the end face of said second sleeve 20 so as to stop the lock piece tube 23 inside the second sleeve 20. The spring for providing restoring force to the stopping arm 24 may be a torsion spring, for replacing the band spring 26, mounted at the pin axis 25.
The
The roller skate of the present invention may also comprise a wheel braking means, for the use of unskillful beginner or emergency. Said braking means may be mounted on the rear wheels and may take the form of brake block with simple structure. In a preferred embodiment shown in the
The brake slot 53 and the brake rod 54 of the braking means may each comprise two symmetrical with respect to the vertical plane where the support rod resides. The two brake rods are connected to each other at the end having brake block, and the brake block 55 is fixed to the end of said brake rod 55 through a bolt 56.
The support rod 51 of the braking means 30 may be secured to the rear support 12 in any known and appropriate manner. In the
Although the invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1069278 | Nov 2004 | HK | national |
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3526976 | Jacobs | Sep 1970 | A |
4070029 | Panarelli | Jan 1978 | A |
4153263 | Yoshimoto | May 1979 | A |
5067736 | Olson et al. | Nov 1991 | A |
5393077 | Wanous | Feb 1995 | A |
6334621 | Chang | Jan 2002 | B1 |
6382638 | Lee | May 2002 | B1 |
20020163143 | Hong | Nov 2002 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2456770 | Oct 2001 | CN |
2456777 | Oct 2001 | CN |
2481375 | Mar 2002 | CN |
1331027 | Jul 2003 | EP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20060108754 A1 | May 2006 | US |