ADJUSTABLE ICE SKATE

Abstract: A skate comprising a boot portion (1) whose sole (2) has a skate portion (4) adjustably attached thereto, characterized in that said sole (2) and said skate portion (4) have two mutually engageable curved surfaces, and that means (8, 9, 10) are provided for maintaining the mutual engagement of said two surfaces in selected positions relative to one another.

Description: Adjustable ice skate The present invention relates to a skate comprising a boot portion selectively positionable relative to a skate portion. There are known ice skates or roller skates comprising a boot portion having a skate portion (rollers, runner blade) attached to its sole. The boot portion comprises a foot portion and a leg portion hinged thereto at the ankle location so as to permit flexions in the longitudinal plane. For permitting the leg portion to be adapted to lateral deformations of the legs of the user (knock-knees or bow legs) , it is known to provide the boot portion with means for adjusting the lateral inclination of the leg portion relative to the foot portion. These means usually disposed adjacent the hinged connection between the two parts. These known means merely permit the leg portion to be inwardly or outwardly inclined relative to the foot portion without alteration of the configuration of the boot portion and its sole. This results in a less than perfect fit of the boot, thus giving discomfort to the legs of the wearer. The document DE-A1-27 24 140 discloses a movable attachment between the sole of a boot and an ice skate. For this reason there are provided screws which pass through bores of the upper part of the skate and are arranged with there threaded end portions in nuts which are fixed arranged in a body of the skate. The upper portion of the skate contains the bores and the sole of the boot contains elements to held the screws in a prederminated position with respect to the skate. There is a possibility to change the skate with respect to the boot, if necessary, and vice-versa, but, and this is an inconvenience of the known solution, any amendment of the position is restricted to the vertical direction. A relative movement of -the boot to the skate or vice-versa is not possible because of the form of the holding means with respect to the sole of the boot. Any displacement in the longitudinal direction of the skate is hindered by the form of the holding means in the backwardly part of the embodiment. It is an object of the invention to eliminate all these shortcomings and to provide a skate permitting the lateral inclination of the boot portion to be adjusted without otherwise altering the configuration thereof. This object and others to become evident from the following description are attained according to the invention by a skate comprising a boot portion whose sole has a skate portion removably attached thereto by connecting means each comprising a screw received in a bore of a greater diameter than the screw diameter, wherein the said sole and the said skate portion are formed with two mutually engageable curved surfaces, and the said connecting means are provided for maintaining the mutual engagement of the said two surfaces in selected positions relative to one another. The characteristics of Claims 2 enable the inclination as wanted by maintaining a good contact between the surfaces of the sole and the skate portion with their grooves. The characteristics of Claim 3 permit a simple mounting of the skate for the user. Another object of the invention consists therein that the lower surface of said sole is extended by a projection received in a V-shaped cavity of the mounting support of said skate portion said projection having fixedly inserted therein a number of nuts in threaded engagement with respective screws the rotation of which causes said boot portion to be rotated relative to said mounting portion. By this way the inclination is adjusted by acting on the screws the rotation of which causes lateral displacement of the nuts and thus a rotation of the boot relativ to the mounting support. A further preferable object of this embodiment is characterized in Claim 5. The present invention shall now be further explained with reference to the attached drawings, wherein: Fig.l shows a sideview of an ice skate in one embodiment of the invention, Fig.2 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of parts of the skate of Fig.l, Fig.3 shows an enlarged sectional view of a detail of Fig.l, Fig.4 shows a sideview of an ice skate in another embodiment of the invention, and Fig.5 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of parts of the skate of Fig.4. In the embodiment of Figures 1 to 3, a skate according to the invention is shown as an ice skate comprising a boot portion 1 whose sole 2 has attached thereto an ice skate portion 3 composed of a rubber mounting support 4 and a runner blade 5. The lower surface of sole 2 is slightly curved with a concave side facing upwards, and the upper surface of an upper portion 6 of mounting support 4 is similarly curved. The connecting surfaces of the sole 2 and of the upper portion 6 beeing formed with longitudinal positioning grooves 2a and 6a respectively. The sole 2 is further provided with four bores 7 for the passage therethrough of respective clamping screws 8 provided with nuts 9. In particular, the diameter of bores 7 is greater than that of screws 8, the latter being provided with heads 10 having a diameter greater than that of bores 7. The adjustment of the boot relative to the mounting support is carried out in the following manner: Screws 8 are losened to permit mountin support 4 to be freely displaced relative to boot 1. The latter may now be longitudinally displaced relative to mounting support 4, and subsequently rotated laterally so as to vary its inclination. These displacements are made possible by the play of screws 8 in the greater-diameter bores 7. When the desired config-uration has been thus attained, screws 8 are retightened for clamping the two grooved surfaces 2a,6a together in mutual engagement. In the embodiment shown in Figures 4 and 5, mounting support 4 of the ice skate portion 3 is attached to the sole 2 by means of rivets 11 passing through transversely extending elongate holes 12 in the sole 2. The sole 2 is on its bottom side provided with a longitudinally extending projection 13 received in a V- sharped cavity 14 formed in the mounting support 4. Each of a plurality of screws 15 is rotatably mounted in opposite sidewalls of said mounting support 4, and each threadedly engaged with a respective nut 16 fixedly inserted in projection 13. In this embodiment, which otherwise does not permit the boot 1 to be longitudinally displaced relative to the skate portion 3, the inclination is adjusted by acting on the screws 15, the rotation of which causes lateral displacement of the nuts 16 and thus a rotation of the boot 1 relative -to the mounting support 4.

Claims: Claims 1. A skate comprising a boot portion (1) whose sole (2) has a skate portion (3,4,5) movably attached thereto by connecting means (8,9,10) each comprising a screw (8) received in a bore (7) of a greater diameter than the screw diameter, characterized in that said sole (2) and said skate portion (3,4,5) are formed with two mutually engageable curved surfaces, and that the said connecting means (8,9,10) are provided for maintaining the mutual engagement of said two surfaces in selected positions relative to one another. 2. A skate according to claim 1, characterized in that the two mutually engageable curved surfaces being formed by the lower surface of said sole (2) and the upper surface of an upper portion (6) of said skate portion (4) which surfaces are provided with longitudinally extending engagement grooves (2a, 6a) . 3. A skate according to claim 1, characterized in that said position maintaining connecting means (8,9,10) comprise screws (8) received in greater-diameter bores (7) of the sole (2) and formed with head portions (10) having a greater diameter than said bores (7) , the head portions (10) extending directly over the bores (7) and the screws (8) passage with there other and free ends the said bores (7) ' and nuts (9) are arranged at this end of each screw (8) . 4. A skate comprising a boot portion (1) whose sole (2) has a skate portion (4,5) attached thereto immovably by connecting means characterized in that the lower surface of said sole (2) is extended by a projection (13) received in a V-shaped cavity (14) of the mounting support (4) of said skate portion (3,4,5) said projection (13) having fixedly inserted therein a number of nuts (16) in threaded engagement with respective screws (15) the rotation of which causes said boot portion (1) to be rotated relative to said mounting portion (4) . 5. A skate according to claim 4, characterized in that the connecting means between the said sole (2) and said skate portion (4,5) comprises rivets . (11) passing through transversaly extending elongated hole (12) in the sole (2) .

Inventors: BAGGIO GIORGIO, BAGGIO, GIORGIO
Applicants: BAGGIO GIORGIO, HTM SPORT SPA, BAGGIO, GIORGIO, HTM SPORT S.P.A.
Application year: 1995
Main classification: A63C1
IPC codes: A63C1