The subject of the invention is skate blade with improved turning properties, which has an external and an internal edge, at the middle region of which the external and the internal edges are parallel, and have the same height, and the blade has an anterior region in front of the middle region, in which the height of the edges increases in forward direction relative to the assumed height at the middle region, and it has a posterior region behind the middle region, in which the height of the edges increases in the rearward direction relative to the assumed height in the middle region.
Generally, the width of skate blades, i.e. the distance between the edges being in contact with ice, is constant. The bottom of the blade has a concave shape between the two edges, and the blade surface determining the edge is not vertical sometimes, but it has an angle with the vertical direction. Many recommendations are known already about the design of sides establishing the blade edge, and about the arch and shape of the concave region between the two (or sometimes more) edges.
The front and rear sections of the skate blade usually have an upward arched shape, meaning that they depart from the ice surface, so that they are in better harmony with its skewed alignment during turning, and that they facilitate the turning.
In order to facilitate turning, it was already recommended in U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,835 to increase the crosswise distance between the edges of the blade relative to the middle part of the blade (relative to the centre of gravity most of the time). The patent provides also a number of examples for the increase of blade width. In some examples the width is increased gradually already from the central point along a slight arch, while in other examples there is a middle section where the blade edges are parallel, and then the width increases both in forward direction and backward direction. The turning properties of the skate are improved by increasing the width according to the description. In the referred patent, however, the increase of the width of the skate blade is symmetric relative to the central axis, so the properties are valid for right turn, as well as for left turn.
It is a primary importance of skating, that the braking force acting on the edges should be minimum in the interest of striving and sliding forward and backward. The parallel edge design is used mostly because the braking force acting on the blade is minimum in this case, and it is the easiest to increase the speed with such edge design.
If the distance between the edges of the blade is increased gradually, then a force component perpendicular to the longitudinal direction will also act on the edges that diverge from each other somewhat, when moving forward or backward, which brakes the movement in straight direction. Therefore, the divergence of the blade edges is not always beneficial.
The primary objective of the invention is to create and edge design, which does not hinder the forward or backward movement of the skate, but it provides a positive improvement in the turning properties.
The body of the skater generally leans in the direction of the turning centre in known manner when making a turn, and as a result, the weight of the skater acts only on the edge towards the turning centre, while the other edge is in the air. As only one of the edges is loaded in this case, no braking force is created if the edges are not parallel.
It is not indifferent to what direction the turning is made, to the right or to the left, the weight of the skater generally acts on the internal edge of the shoe being towards the turning centre. Therefore, it is not indifferent to what direction the turning is made depending on the style of skating. If the edge carrying the weight is not straight (i.e. not parallel with the longitudinal axis of the blade everywhere), and it tends to get arched towards the centre of curvature of the turning in forward or backward direction, then this design facilitates the action of turning in the given direction. The optimum curvature, therefore, is not always the same generally, depending on the direction.
The essential object of the invention is to create an edge design, where the curvature of the edge carrying the load facilitates turning, but does not hinder the forward or backward sliding, and the edge shape that leans away the central plane cannot produce a braking effect.
The second object of the invention is to create an edge design, which is matched to the differences between turning right and turning left, and provides optimum curvature for the respective edges for turning in the given direction.
We recognised according to the invention, that it is not enough to make the blade edge arched outwards relative to the central plane of the blade, but the arching should occur when and where straight forward (or backward) movement cannot happen any more, and where the blade edge is above height z=0 in the basic state. The zero height can be interpreted at the section, where the blade edges are parallel. For this reason, the widened edge cannot produce braking force during movement in straight direction, because the widening section does not touch the ice, but has a certain height above it.
During turning, however, the body of the skater leans not only in lateral direction, but also forward or rearward depending on the turning radius, therefore, only one of the edges of the blade touches the ice, and at the same time, the varying height position of the blade edge facilitates the skater leaning forward (or backward).
For accomplishing the essential tasks, therefore, we crated a skate blade, which has an outside edge and an inside edge, at the middle region of which the outside edge and the inside edge are parallel and have the same height, and the blade has an anterior region in front of the middle region, where the height of edges increases in forward direction relative to the height assumed at the middle region, and it has a posterior region behind the middle region, where the height of edges increases in rearward direction relative to the height assumed at the middle region, and the width coordinate of at least one of the edges at least at the anterior region or at the posterior region increases relative to the vertical central plane interpreted at the middle region according to the invention, along an arched curve section with the distance from the middle region, and the two edges have height coordinates exceeding zero with the same length coordinates at all locations in front or behind the middle region, where the blade width is over the value assumed at the middle region.
The continuous arch and curvature can be accomplished, if the width coordinate of the edges in both the anterior and the posterior regions is increased with the increase of the absolute value of the length coordinate.
According to the second aspect of the invention, the increase of width of left edge is different from the increase of width of the right edge in order to optimize turning right and turning left.
As skates are sold in pairs, a right blade attached to the right shoe and a left blade attached to the left show belong to a pair of skating shoes, and it is beneficial according to a further recognition of the invention, if the right and left blades have edge sections that become widened along different arches.
In case of a preferred shape of design, the posterior region behind the middle parallel region has an edge section which becomes wider rearward along an arch on both blades, and in the given case the arches on the two blades are different.
Turning is particularly assisted, if widening sections are included in both regions (anterior and posterior) of both blades of a pair of shoes, but at opposite sides, the orientation of which on the right blade is different from the orientation on the left blade.
It is beneficial in this case if the skate blade is assembled from two parts (halves), which parts meet along the central plane.
In case of a preferred embodiment, the two parts are connected at two or more discrete locations by means of rivets.
Skating becomes a unique experience by using the blade designed according to the invention, the movement along a straight path is not hindered by anything, and the turning abilities are not only improved, but the eventual preferences of the skater can also be met, even when the skater desires different properties when turning to the left relative to the properties when turning to the right.
The skate blade according to the invention is described in more details with reference to examples of design shown in the drawings, where:
In case of the shape designed as shown in
The different change of width of blade 10 at the left and right sides is allowed (or required sometimes) by the willingness or the desire of the skater to turn right with different style, curvature of path or momentum relative to the left turn. For the sake of clarity, let us take the central plane interpreted in plane x-z in the middle region 1 of the blade 10 as a halving plane providing the starting (zero) line of the dimensions in direction y. Let us mark the distances of edge 3 (the upper edge according to
The arch of widening of the respective edges 2, 3 facilitates turning in the given direction, and allows turning in arch (radius of curvature) much smaller than usual.
It could be beneficial to prepare the blade 10 from two half blades (not shown in the drawing), because of the independent design of the left side and right side of the blade 10, where each half has a planar surface at one side corresponding to the central plane, and the thickness determining the other side follows the desired arched design of the associated edges 2 and 3. The half blades can be connected rigidly to each other (e.g. by means of riveting) to form a single rigid blade 10.
The respective edges 2, 3 (as has been mentioned already) could have lots of different designs according to the requirements, about which a couple of examples are shown below.
In case of Example 1, the length of the middle region 1 is 100 mm, while the anterior and posterior regions are 90 mm long alike. The blade 10 in the example has a symmetrical design relative to the central plane 6. The change of width of edges 2, 3 is also identical at front and at the rear, but their heights are different.
The height-length and width-length diagrams for the design of blade 10 corresponding to Example 1 are shown in
Example 2 and the associated Table 2 refer to a blade 10, which has a shorter middle region 1, which is only 60 mm long. The total length of blade 10 is also 280 mm in this case. The symmetry of the increase of thickness at the anterior and posterior regions is true also in this example.
The height-length and width-length diagrams for the design of blade 10 corresponding to Example 2 are shown in
Example 3 and the associated Table 3 refer to a blade 10, which has an even shorter middle region 1, which is only 40 mm long. The total length of blade 10 is also 280 mm in this case. The symmetry of the increase of thickness at the anterior and posterior regions is true also in this example.
The height-length and width-length diagrams for the design of blade 10 corresponding to Example 3 are shown in
Example 4 refers to a blade with asymmetric blade design, where the distance (width) measured in direction y of edges 2, 3 of the blade 10 is not the same relative to the central plane 6. In case of such a design, the turning to the left and turning to the right is influenced and facilitated by the blade 10 differently. In addition to the introduced example, the asymmetry of the edges 2, 3 of the blade can be accomplished with many other curvatures, and the dimensioning depends primarily on the preferences of the skater.
The coordinates of the blade corresponding to Example 4 are summarised in Table 4, and at the same time, the diagrams shown in
The design of edges 2, 3 of the blade 10 according to the invention can be varied within a wide range in harmony with the requirements and individual preferences of the skater. The shapes of design can be changed without deviating from the essential concept of the invention as long as the parallel alignment and the z=0 height of edges 2, 3 are kept in the middle region 1, and then the width y of at least one of the edges 2, 3 increases within the anterior region 4 and/or within posterior region 5 along axis x corresponding to a continuous arched curvature departing from the middle region 1.
The blade 10 designed according to the invention ensures the usual possibilities while moving along a straight path, and at the same time, the increase of the width along a curved arch provides rather significant advantages during turning, which become evident in the aesthetics of skating and in the improved maneuverability.
In
In case of the other, i.e. the right blade 14, the conditions are opposite relative to the left blade 11, meaning that there is an arched front edge section 15, which becomes wider to the left, and there is a rear edge section 16, which becomes wider to the right.
Naturally, in the line of the mentioned edge section, the blade is locate at elevated location in direction z, therefore, these sections do not touch the ice surface while moving along a straight path, and therefore, they do not cause braking affect.
The effect and advantages of the blade design described here can be observed in
Although in case of this shape of design the anterior blade region is parallel, the arched design of the posterior blade region facilitates turning, and this design has significant advantages also relative to the traditional parallel design.
A further conclusion can be considered based on
Naturally, the mentioned asymmetry is very beneficial also in case of edges being right and left of the central plane of the same blade, for the first version of which an example is given by the case depicted in
Therefore, the solution according to the invention efficiently utilizes the fact, that only the middle region 1 of the skate blade touches the ice when moving along a straight path, and the edges have to be parallel only at this region, while the blade sections in front and behind the middle region are elevated gradually, and very advantageous turning properties are made possible by a gradual change of their width here, and it is particularly beneficial to have a slightly asymmetric design within these possibilities. The asymmetry may refer to the differences between the right and left blades, as well as to the asymmetry of edge sections established at the two sides of a blade.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1400158 | Mar 2014 | HU | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/HU2015/000026 | 3/19/2015 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2015/140587 | 9/24/2015 | WO | A |
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