Abstract:
A goalie skate protective shell defines an interior cavity adapted for receiving a goalie ice skate boot. A holder is unitarily formed as part of a sole of the shell and has an open ended, lengthwise extending groove. At least two transversely extending bores are formed in the holder and receive fasteners which extend through the bores and apertures formed in a plurality of legs projecting from a blade mounted in the groove in the holder to removably affix the blade to the holder.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO CO-PENDING APPLICATION  
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of the priority date of co-pending provisional application Serial No. 60/223,517, filed Aug. 7, 2000 in the names of Karl Van Blankenburg and Edward J. Belfour, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Hockey ice skates typically include a metal blade which is removably mounted in one-piece holder. The holder is, in turn, secured to the sole of a skate boot by means of a plurality of rivets, with rivets being commonly employed.  
           [0003]    While the holder is capable of securely fixing the blade to the boot, difficulties arise when the blade must be sharpened since the blade and bulky holder cannot be easily or quickly removed from the boot. This makes it difficult to manipulate or fixedly secure the entire skate in a blade sharpening machine for re-sharpening the blade edge.  
           [0004]    Goalie ice skates have a somewhat different construction in that a smaller height boot is mounted inside a plastic protective shell. The shell includes an integral holder for a blade which is insert molded in the shell. The shell is then riveted to the sole in the same manner as a regular hockey ice skate.  
           [0005]    Further, with goalie skates, removal of the blade when the blade is damaged, worn out, or otherwise requires replacement involves removal of all of the rivets attaching the holder to the skate boot. At best, this is a time consuming and costly process.  
           [0006]    It would be desirable to provide a goalie skate protective shell having a removable blade to overcome the aforementioned problems with prior art goalie skates; while at the same time providing the desired extra protection of a goalie&#39;s feet.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0007]    A goalie skate protective shell for receiving a goalie ice skate boot includes a protective shell having opposed sidewalls and a sole joined by toe and heel portions. A holder is unitarily formed as part of the sole of the shell. The holder has an open ended groove extending lengthwise thereover. At least two transversely extending bores are formed in the holder. A blade has a blade edge and at least two legs projecting from the blade. Apertures are formed in the legs for alignment with the transverse extending bores in the holder when the blade is mounted in the open ended groove in the holder. Fasteners are engagable through the apertures in legs of the blade and the transversely extending bores in the holder to removable affix the blade to the holder.  
           [0008]    The present goalie skate protective shell with removable blade overcomes deficiencies found in previous goalie ice skate protective shells. The holder which is integrally formed as a unitary part of the protective shell removably receives an ice skate blade which uniquely enables the blade to be removed for replacement, sharpening, etc. This makes the protective shell of the present invention easier to use than previously devised goalie skate protective shells. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    The various features, advantages and other uses of the present invention will become more apparent by referring to the following detailed description and drawing in which:  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a goalie skate protective shell with replaceable blade according to the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the inner side of the assembled goalie skate protective shell and blade show in FIG. 1;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the outer side of the assembled goalie protective shell and blade of the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the replaceable blade shown in FIGS.  1 - 3 ; and  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is a front end view of the goalie skate protective shell and replaceable blade according to the present invention.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]    Referring now to the drawing, and to FIGS.  1 - 5  in particular, there is depicted a goalie skate  10  having a protective shell with a replaceable blade  14  mounted therein.  
         [0016]    The shell  12  is formed as a one-piece body of a suitable hard plastic, such as polypropylene or polyethlene. The shell  12  includes opposed side walls including an outer side wall  20  and an inner side wall  22 . The outer side wall extends between a toe cup  24  and a heel  26 , with the toe cup  24  and the heel  26  joining opposed ends of the outer and inner side walls  20  and  22 . The terms “outer” and “inner” are used with reference to the user&#39;s foot.  
         [0017]    The outer side wall  20  has a relatively low profile, at least in a center portion of the skate  10 . This low profile is formed by an upper edge  28  which depends from an upper end at the heel  26  to a lower height side lip portion extending longitudinally along the length of the shell  12  before rising again and curving smoothly into the toe cup  24 .  
         [0018]    The inner side wall  22  has a greater height with an ankle portion  30  rising above the upper extent of the heel  26  before the central edge  32  of the inner side wall  22  smoothly depends from the ankle portion  30  to the toe cup  24 .  
         [0019]    A sole  18  is formed along a bottom surface of the shell  12  and is integrally joined to the side wall  20  and  22 , the toe cup  24  and the heel  26 . The overall dimensions of the sole  18  are chosen for each a particular size boot  16 .  
         [0020]    A blade holder portion  32  is integrally joined to or molded with the sole  18  and depends from the sole  18 . The holder portion  32  may take a variety of shapes; although all shapes of the holder portion  32  include a plurality of depending legs  34 ,  36 ,  38  and  40 , by example only. The front most leg  34  located in the toe portion of the shell  12  and the rear most leg  40  located at the heel portion of the shell  12  are formed with through bores  42  to receive replaceable blade fasteners shown as a two-part fastener formed of fastener elements  44  and  46 . The intermediate legs  36  and  38  of the holder  32  have internal slots  48  opening from a bottom edge of the holder  32 , the purpose of which will also be described hereinafter.  
         [0021]    Finally, the bottom of the holder portion  32  is in the form of a continuous edge having an internal open-ended groove  50  extending there along between the leg  34  in toe portion of the shell  12  and the leg  40  in the heel  40  of the shell  12 .  
         [0022]    As shown in FIG. 5, the side portions  52  and  54  of each leg  34 ,  36 ,  38  and  40  of the holder portion  32  taper inwardly from an upper end adjacent to the sole  18  to the groove  50 .  
         [0023]    The legs  34 ,  36 ,  38  and  40  of the holder portion  32  form a plurality of weight reducing apertures therebetween, with three apertures  56 ,  58  and  60  being depicted by way of example only in FIG. 2.  
         [0024]    The blade  14  is preferably formed of a metal, such as steel. The blade  14 , as shown in detail in FIGS.  1 - 5 , includes a blade edge  64  and an opposed mounting edge  66  which is adapted to fit within the groove  50  in the holder portion  32 . The mounting edge  66  may have a smooth continuous surface or an irregular surface with cut outs for reduced weight as shown by example only in FIGS. 1 and 4.  
         [0025]    A blade portion  68  is formed between the blade edge  64  and the mounting edge  66 . The blade portion  68  extends between a toe edge  70  and a heel edge  72 . Optionally, a plurality of identical or different shaped weight reducing apertures  74  are formed along the length of the blade portion  68 .  
         [0026]    A front or toe leg  78  extends from the toe edge  70  as shown in FIG. 4. The outer profile of the toe leg  78  includes a notch  80  which is optionally provided by example only. Similarly, a heel leg  82  extends from the heel edge  72 . An optional notch  84  may be formed in the outer surface of the heel leg  82  for weight reducing purposes.  
         [0027]    At least one and preferably a pair of lateral supports  86  and  88  are formed intermediately along the length of the blade portion  68  between the toe leg  76  and the heel leg  82 . At least one aperture  90  is formed in each of the lateral supports  86  and  88  for weight reducing purposes. The lateral supports  86  and  88  fit snugly into the slots  48  formed in the legs  36  and  38  of the holder  32  to provide lateral support for the blade  14 .  
         [0028]    The blade  14  is removably attachable to the holder portion  32  by means of the aforementioned fasteners  44  and  46  which are extendable through the bores  42  formed in an upper end of the toe leg  76  and the heel leg  82 . The toe leg  76  and the heel leg  82  slide within open ended grooves  77  and  83  formed on the legs  34  and  40  of the holder portion  32  such that the apertures  92  and  94  align with the bores  42  in the legs  34  and  40  for receiving the fasteners elements  44  and  46  there through.  
         [0029]    The frontmost aperture  56  in the holder portion  32  is formed with a rearward facing projection  98 . The projection  98  enables the goalie to fit the front toe strap  99  of the leg pads in place over the projection  98  to stop the leg pads from twisting during use.  
         [0030]    In use, the shell  12  receives a conventional goalie skate boot  16  therein. At a number of peripheral locations  100 , a plurality of rivets or screws pass through the sole  18  of the shell  12  into the sole of the boot  16  to secure the boot  16  and shell  12  together. This enables a goalie to exhibit unitary movement between his legs, the boots  16  and the shell  12  mounted on each boot  16 .  
         [0031]    Other features of the present invention may be more clearly seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. As shown therein, the rearmost aperture  60  in the holder portion  32  is formed with at least one angled edge  96 . The edge  96  is specifically formed to accommodate the correct orientation of the lower attaching strap  97  of a goalie&#39;s leg pad. The edge  96  allows the leg pad strap to lie flat across the holder  32  without twisting.  
         [0032]    The intermediate mounting edge  66  of the blade portion  68  of the blade  14  extends into the groove  50  in the holder  32  to laterally support the blade  14  from lateral movement relative to the holder  32 . The lateral supports  86  and  88  assist in such lateral support.  
         [0033]    If at any time, the blade  14  needs to be re-sharpened since it has become dull, the fastener elements  44  and  46  are un-threaded to enable the blade  14  to be separated from the shell  12 . This enables the blade  14  to be easily and stationally mounted in a conventional blade sharpening machine, not shown, to re-sharpen the edge  64  on the blade  14 .  
         [0034]    Alternately, damaged or dull blades  14  can be easily and quickly removed and replaced by new, sharp blades in the limited amount of time between periods in a conventional hockey game.  
         [0035]    The replaceable blades  14  can also be interchanged with different blades more suited for different ice conditions. Soft ice require blades that are duller; while hard ice needs sharp blades for optimum skating performance.  
         [0036]    After the blades  14  have worn down as a result of multiple sharpenings over time, the blades  14  can be easily removed and replaced with new blades without having to remove the shell  12  from the boot  16 .  
         [0037]    In summary, there has been disclosed a unique goalie skate with includes a protective shell having a removable blade mounted thereon.