Abstract:
An ice skating blade has an upper portion having a top surface and two parallel substantially vertical left and right sides; and a lower portion having two faces flared outwardly from the upper portion, providing angled cutting edges. An appropriate angle of flare is 8° from the vertical.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0001]    This invention relates to ice skates, and more particularly to ice skate blades having a configuration which enhances skating performance.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    A modem ice skate, such as an ice hockey skate, has a boot portion, a blade-holding system attached to the underside of the boot portion, and an ice-carving metal blade held by the blade-holding system. Typically, the metal blade is removable from the blade-holding system, allowing old, worn out blades to be replaced when necessary.  
           [0003]    Skate blades have not changed much over the past number of decades. They are typically simply long, thin plates, having sharpened bottom edges for contacting the ice.  
           [0004]    Blades for different types of skates may have different configurations. For example, the newest speed skating blades are very long, and flat. Hockey skate blades, on the other hand, are shorter, and may have a curvature, or a “rock” to them. This curvature decreases the amount of power a skater can transmit to the carving surface (the ice), since it decreases the portion of the blade touching the ice at any one time, but it also increases the skater&#39;s mobility and manoeuverability. It is this aspect of skate blades which has been experimented with and developed most recently by others. There has been little development of other aspects of blades.  
           [0005]    U.S. Pat. No.3,036,840, which issued to L. I. Norgiel on May 29, 1962, shows a skate blade similar in some aspects to the one which is the subject of the present invention. The similarity lies in the flare of the very bottom portion of the blade, as shown in FIG. 5 of that patent. However, the blade shown in the Norgiel patent has many shortcomings which preclude its use in modem hockey skates. For one, it is wider in the middle of the blade, and narrow at the ends. This configuration, while perhaps suitable for figure skating blades, is not preferred for hockey skate blades. Second, the blade does not have a consistent angle of flare over its entire length. It furthermore cannot be easily machined, but rather, is only easily constructed by forging, which is possible only with materials of lesser hardness than preferable to maintain a sharp edge.  
         SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
         [0006]    The present invention provides an ice skate blade offering enhanced skating performance. The blade has an upper portion comprising two parallel substantially vertical left and right sides and a lower portion comprising two lower faces, each lower face extending downwardly and outwardly from the bottom of one of the sides at an angle of between 4° and 12° from the vertical. The lower faces having lower edges bounding between them the bottom surface of the blade. The bottom surface is preferably concave.  
           [0007]    In a preferred embodiment, the upper faces have a width between them of 3 mm, and the lower edges are parallel and have a width between them of between 4 mm and 5 mm. Most preferably, the lower faces extend outwardly at an angle of 8° from the vertical.  
           [0008]    The skate blade of the preferred embodiment also comprises means for attaching the blade to an ice skate.  
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    In drawings which illustrate a specific embodiment of the invention, but which should not be construed as restricting the spirit or scope of the invention in any way:  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a side view of the ice skate blade of the present invention.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2A is a cross sectional view of the skate blade shown in FIG. 1, along line A-A 1 .  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2B is a close-up view of the bottom portion of the cross-section of the blade shown in FIG. 2A. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION  
       [0013]    Referring to FIG. 1, an ice skate blade made in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, denoted generally by the numeral 10, has, generally, an upper portion  12  and a lower portion  14 .  
         [0014]    Upper portion  12  has a top surface  16  and a left side  18 A and a right side  18 B extending downwardly from top surface  16  (FIG. 2A). Left and right sides  18 A,  18 B are substantially vertical and are in parallel arrangement in a preferred embodiment of the invention.  
         [0015]    Lower portion  14  of skate blade  10  has two faces  20 A,  20 B (FIG. 2B), each one extending downwardly and outwardly from the bottom of one of sides  18 A,  18 B.  
         [0016]    The inventor of the present invention has discovered that blade  10  lends particular advantage to a skater when face  20 A extends outwardly from side  18 A at an angle θ, and face  20 B extends outwardly from side  18 B at an angle φ, where angles θ, φ are between 4° and 12° from the vertical, as shown in FIG. 2A. FIG. 2A is a cross sectional view of the blade of FIG. 1.  
         [0017]    Angles θ, φ may be identical, but need not be. For particular applications, it is favourable that the angles θ, φ are different. However, in a preferred embodiment, angles θ, φ are identical, and are 8°.  
         [0018]    Lower faces  20 A,  20 B having lower ice-carving edges  22 A,  22 B, which bound between them the bottom surface  24  of the blade  10 . It will be appreciated that edges  22 A and  22 B are parallel, just as sides  18 A and  18 B are parallel. In a preferred embodiment, bottom surface  24  is concave in configuration.  
         [0019]    It is important to note that the main feature of the present invention, namely, the angled nature of the bottom portion  14  of blade  10 , can be accomplished by constructing the upper portion  12  of blade  10  such that it has a width W of approximately 3 mm (FIG. 2A), and by constructing the lower portion  14  of blade  10  such that it has a bottom width W 1  of between 4 mm and 5 mm. When so constructed, lower portion  14  occupies approximately one-third of the height of blade  10  (not including any mounting means for blade  10 ), as seen in FIG. 1. Lower portion  14  also extends along the entire bottom length of blade  10 .  
         [0020]    It will be further appreciated that the blade of the current invention may be constructed of any suitable material. However, the inventor of the present invention has found in practice that the use of #304 stainless steel allows for efficient machining of the blade, and also provides useful properties to the finished blade itself  
         [0021]    For example, it will be appreciated that as the blade  10  is sharpened, width W 1  will decrease. Since the effectiveness of the blade is dependent upon the spacial relationship between this bottom width W 1  and the preferred angles of the lower faces  20 A,  20 B, it is important that the material of the blade be hard enough not to require frequent sharpenings.  
         [0022]    While a variety of mounting means can be implemented to mount blade  10  into a blade-holding system incorporated into a skate, in the presently-preferred art blades are typically attached by means of one or more bolts being fastened into cavities formed within the blades. Accordingly, the present blade may be constructed to have mounting means comprising one or more tabs  26  formed at the top of the upper portion  12  of blade  10  (as shown in FIG. 1), each tab  26  having a cavity  28  for accepting a bolt from the blade-holding system. In the alternative, cavities may be formed through the upper portion  12  itself, to accommodate another popular mounting system wherein bolts run laterally through blade  10 .  
         [0023]    As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. For example, as previously mentioned, while the skate of the preferred embodiment is preferably constructed of #304 stainless steel, other materials may be suitably employed. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following claims.