Patent Publication Number: US-6902240-B1

Title: Wheel for an in-line skate

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a wheel, and more particularly to a wheel for an in-line skate to enable easy assembly and reduce manufacture cost. 
   2. Description of Related Art 
   A wheel used in the in-line skate usually is composed of a tire and a hub. Recently, due to the requirements of the young generation, the weight of the wheel becomes less and less. However, despite the effort in lessening the wheel weight, manufacture cost is still high. Furthermore, because of the complex structure of the hub, the assembly of the wheel is difficult and extremely labor intensive. 
   To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention intends to provide an improved in-line skate wheel to mitigate the aforementioned problems. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The primary objective of the invention is to provide an improved wheel for an in-line skate. The wheel is easily assembled and has a simple structure so that the manufacture cost is low and the labor involved is greatly reduced. 
   Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the wheel of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the wheel of the present invention; 
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the hub of the wheel of the present invention; 
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of the wheel of the present invention; 
       FIG. 5  is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of the wheel of the present invention; and 
       FIG. 6  is an exploded perspective view of still another embodiment of the wheel of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   With reference to  FIG. 1 , the wheel for the in-line skate and in accordance with the present invention includes a hub  1  and a tire  2 . Preferably, the tire  2  is securely mounted on an outer periphery of the hub  1  and made of polyurethane (PU). 
   With reference to  FIG. 2 , the hub  1  is composed of two halves  1   a ,  1   b . Each half  1   a ,  1   b  is identical in structure and shape. Therefore the following description focuses only on one half  1   a ,  1   b.    
   The half hub  1   a ,  1   b  has a centrally defined axle hole  11 , an inner side face  12  and an outer side face  13 . The outer side face  13  is conical. The inner side face  12  has a hollow cylinder  110  formed around a periphery defining the axle hole  11 , multiple rods  121  formed on a peripheral end face of the cylinder  110 , multiple indents  122  defined on the peripheral end face of the cylinder  110  and being alternate relative to the rods  121 , a skirt  120  formed and extended out from an outer periphery of the inner side face  12 , multiple annular segmented protrusions  123  formed on a face of the skirt  120  and multiple cutout  124  defined in the face of the skirt  120  and being alternate relative to the protrusions  123 . Preferably, there are slits  14  defined in the face of the skirt  120  to lessen the weight of the hub  1  and reinforcing plates  15  formed along an outer periphery of the hollow cylinder  110  and between a side face of both the protrusions  123  and the cutouts  124 . 
   With reference to  FIG. 4 , when two halves  1   a ,  1   b  of the hub  1  are assembled, it is appreciated that the rods  121  from one half  1   a  are inserted into the corresponding indents  122  of the other half  1   b . The protrusions  123  of one half  1   a  are inserted into the corresponding cutouts  124  of the other half  1   b . Thereafter, the assembly of the hub  1  is finished and as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
   With reference to  FIG. 5 , a second embodiment of the hub  3  of the present invention is shown and includes two halves  3   a ,  3   b . Each half  3   a ,  3   b  is identical in structure and shape. Therefore, the following description focuses only on one half  3   a ,  3   b.    
   The half hub  3   a ,  3   b  has a centrally defined axle hole  31 , an inner side face  32  and an outer side face  33 . The outer side face  33  is conical. The inner side face  32  has a hollow cylinder  310  formed around a periphery defining the axle hole  31 , a skirt  320  formed and extended out from an outer periphery of the inner side face  32 , multiple annular segmented protrusions  323  formed on a face of the skirt  320  and multiple cutout  324  defined in the face of the skirt  320  and being alternate relative to the protrusions  323 . Preferably, there are slits  34  defined in the face of the skirt  320  to lessen the weight of the hub  3  and reinforcing plates  35  formed along an outer periphery of the hollow cylinder  310  and between a side face of both the protrusions  323  and the cutouts  324 . Multiple connecting blocks  351  are alternately formed on a top face of each of the reinforcing plate  35  and multiple indents  352  are also alternately defined in the top face of each of the reinforcing plate  35 . Therefore, one connecting block  351  is adjacent to one indent  352 . 
   When two halves  3   a ,  3   b  are assembled, the protrusions  323  from one half  3   a  are inserted into the cutouts  324  of the other half  3   b  and the connecting blocks  351  from one half  3   a  are inserted into the indents  352  of the other half  3   b . Thus the assembly of the two halves  3   a ,  3   b  is completed. 
   With reference to  FIG. 6 , a third embodiment of the hub  4  is shown and composed of two halves  4   a ,  4   b . The half hub  4   a ,  4   b  has a centrally defined axle hole  41 , an inner side face  42  and an outer side face  43 . The outer side face  43  is conical. The inner side face  42  has a hollow cylinder  410  formed around a periphery defining the axle hole  41 , a skirt  420  formed and extended out from an outer periphery of the inner side face  42 , multiple annular segmented protrusions  423  formed on a face of the skirt  420  and multiple cutout  424  defined in the face of the skirt  420  and being alternate relative to the protrusions  423 . Preferably, there are slits  44  defined in the face of the skirt  420  to lessen the weight of the hub  4  and reinforcing plates  45  formed along an outer periphery of the hollow cylinder  410  and between a side face of both the protrusions  423  and the cutouts  424 . Multiple secondary cylinders  46  are formed on the inner side face  43  and between two reinforcing plate  45 . Multiple rods  421  and multiple indents  422  are formed on free ends of the secondary cylinders  46 , wherein the rods  421  are alternate relative to the indents  422 . 
   When two halves  4   a ,  4   b  are assembled, the protrusions  423  from one half  4   a  are inserted into the cutouts  424  of the other half  4   b  and the rods  421  from one half  4   a  are inserted into the indents  422  of the other half  4   b . Thus the assembly of the two halves  4   a ,  4   b  is completed. 
   After the assembly of the hub of the present invention, it is noted that the assembly is easy and the manufacture cost is greatly reduced in mass production. Furthermore, when in comparison with a conventional wheel, the weight of the wheel of the present invention is only 39.6 g and the weight of the conventional wheel of the same dimension is 75.7 g. Thus the weight of the wheel of the present invention is reduced. 
   Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.