Patent Publication Number: US-6336644-B1

Title: Combined sports shoe and roller skate

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention is related to a combined sports shoe and roller skate and in particular to one provided at the bottom with a collapsible roller assembly which can be controlled to convert a sports shoe into a roller skate as desired. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional combined sports shoe and roller skate comprises a body  10  having a bottom formed with a chamber  14 . A bottom plate  11  which has a plurality of holes  12  is arranged inside the body  10 . A roller seat  20  is fitted inside the chamber  14  of the body  10  and fixedly mounted on the bottom of the bottom plate  11  by screws  13 . The roller seat  20  includes a base  21  and a moveable bracket  22 . The base  21  has two lugs each having a hole  211  through which a pin  23  is passed for pivotally coupling the bracket  22 . The bracket  22  includes a rod  221  for fixing an end of a spring  26 . The other end of the spring  26  is fixedly connected with the base  21 . A roller  25  is pivotally connected with the moveable bracket  22  by a bolt  24 , and the roller  25  can be turned out of the chamber  14  to convert the shoe into a roller skate, or turned into the chamber  14  to convert the roller skate into a sports shoe as desired. However, the user must use his or her fingers to turn roller  25  into or out of the chamber  14  of the bottom of the shoe thereby causing much inconvenience in use and making the fingers very dirty. 
     Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a combined sports shoe and roller skate which can obviate and mitigate the above-mentioned drawbacks. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention is related to an improvement in the structure of a combined sports shoe and roller skate. 
     It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a combined sports shoe and roller skate which utilizes a control button to control a roller assembly to turn out or into a chamber at the bottom of the shoe so as to convert the sports shoe into a roller skate or convert the roller skate into a sports shoe as desired. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide a combined sports shoe and roller skate which utilizes a linking rod to control front arms and rear arms to open or collapse the rollers. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a combined sports shoe and roller skate includes a sole having a chamber in which is mounted a collapsible roller assembly, wherein the roller assembly has a seat pivotally connected with linking rods, positioning rods, rear arms, front arms, rollers and torsion spring at two sides and a control mechanism is mounted on the seat and composed of a locking bolt, an axle, a pawl, a torsion spring, a tension spring and a pushbutton, whereby the sports shoe can be converted into a roller skate as desired simply by depressing a pushbutton and the roller skate can be also converted into a sports shoe by collapsing the roller assembly into a chamber at the bottom of the sole. 
     Other objects and merits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent when the following detailed description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a prior art combined sports shoe and roller skate; 
     FIG. 2 is a side view of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the roller assembly according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the control mechanism according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the roller assembly according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 6 is a side view of the roller assembly according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the control mechanism according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 8 illustrates the relationship between the roller assembly and the sole according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 9 is a sectional view illustrating the relationship between the roller assembly and the sole according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line A—A of FIG. 9; 
     FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along line B—B of FIG. 9; 
     FIG. 12 illustrates how the pushbutton is depressed into the shoe; 
     FIG. 13 illustrates how the sports shoe is converted into a roller skate; and 
     FIG. 14 illustrates how the roller skate is converted into a sports shoe. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference to the drawings and in particular to FIGS. 2 through 7, the combined sports shoe and roller skate according to the present invention generally comprises a body portion  30  and a sole  40 . The sole  40  is provided with a collapsible roller assembly  50  for converting the sports shoe into a roller skate or converting the roller skate into a sports shoe as desired. 
     The roller assembly  50  includes a seat  51  having a pair of guide pins  522  and  524  and a pair of axle pins  533  and  537  on which are pivotally mounted a pair of linking rods  52 , a pair of positioning arms  53 , a pair of rear arms  54 , a pair of front arms  55 , two pair of rollers  56 , and a torsion spring  57 . The seat  51  has a top  511  a rear open space  512  and a front open space  513 . The rear open space  512  is formed with a rectangular chamber  514  and an end chamber  515  in communication with the rectangular chamber  514 . A control mechanism  60  is mounted within the rectangular chamber  514  and the end chamber  515  and a covering plate  516  is installed on the top of the rear open space  512  by bolts  517 . 
     The linking rod  52  is positioned between one side of the seat  51  and the positioning arm  53  and has a hole  521  at the front end. The linking rods  52  are pivotally mounted with the front arms  55  by a guide pin  522  extending through the front open space  513  and the intermediate holes  552  of the front arms  55 . Further, the linking rods  52  are pivotally connected to the rear arms  54  by a guide pin  524  extending through the rear open space  512  of the seat  51  and upper holes  542  of the rear arms  54 . 
     The positioning arm  53  is formed with two holes  531  at two ends thereof engaged with respective protuberances  518  of the seat  51 . The rear portion of the position arm  53  has a hole  532  through which the axle pin  533  extends through the rear open space  512  of the seat  51 , the torsion spring  57  and the intermediate hole  541  of the rear arm  54 . The rear portion of the position arm  53  further has a curved groove  534  for receiving the guide pin  524  extending through a rear hole  523  of the linking rod  52 . The curved groove  534  has a radial hole  535  extending therefrom. The positioning arms  53  are pivotally connected with the front arms  55  by an axle pin  537  extending through the front open space  513  of the seat  51  and upper holes  551  of the front arms  55 . 
     The front arm  55  has an upper hole  551 , an intermediate hole  552 , and a lower hole  553 , wherein the upper hole  551  receives the axle pin  537  extending through a hole  536  of the positioning arm  53  while the intermediate hole  552  receives the guide pin  522  extending through the front hole  521  of he linking rod  52 . 
     The torsion spring  57  is sleeved on the axle pin  533  and includes a coiled body at the intermediate portion and two legs  571  and  572  at two ends thereof One leg  571  of the torsion spring  57  bears against the guide pin  524  extending through the rear hole  523  of the linking rod  52 , the curved groove  534  of the positioning arm  53  and the upper notch  543  of the rear arm  54 , while the other leg  572  of the torsion spring  57  presses the inner bottom side of the rear open space  512  of the seat  51 . 
     The control mechanism  60  comprises a locking bolt  61 , an axle  62 , a pawl  63 , a torsion spring  64 , a tension spring  65  an a pushbutton  66 . 
     The bolt  61  extends through the radial slot  535  of the positioning arm  53  and engages with the upper notches  543  of the rear arms  54 . The intermediate portion of the bolt  61  is formed with an enlarged circular member  611 . The axle  62  extends through the pawl  63  and the torsion spring  64  and fitted into the recesses  519  on the top of the seat  51 . 
     The pawl  63  has a pair of lugs each having a hole  631  for the passage of the axle  62  which extends through the holes  631  and the torsion spring  64  to keep the torsion spring between the two lugs of the pawl  63 . The torsion spring  64  has one leg  641  pressing against the top of the pawl  63  and another leg  642  fitted into a recess  510  of the seat  51  (see FIG.  7 ). 
     The pushbutton  66  has a stop portion  661  at the intermediate portion thereof and a shaft on which are mounted a spring  65  and a packing ring  67 . The pushbutton  66  is arranged inside the end chamber  515  of the seat  51 , with its tip  662  pushing against the bottom of the pawl  63  (see FIG.  7 ). 
     The installation between the roller assembly  50  and the sole  40  will now be described as follows: 
     Referring to FIGS. 8 through 12, the sole  40  is formed at the top with a cavity  41  configured and sized to receive the roller assembly  50 . The cavity  41  has two openings  42  at the bottom and a hole  43  at the rear end of the front arms  55  are pivotally connected with the rollers  56  by a sleeve  561 , a bolt  562  and a nut  563 . 
     The roller assembly  50  is fixedly mounted into the sole  40  by resin or the like, and the fixation may be accomplished by any other means well known to those skilled in the art and is not considered a part of the invention. 
     The working principle of the present invention will now be described in detail as follows: 
     Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13, the pushbutton  66  is first depressed to cause its tip  662  to push the pawl  63  to move upwardly, so that the pawl  63  will move the locking bolt  61  out of the notches  544  to the rear arms  54 . Meanwhile, the torsion spring  57  will push the guide pin  524  to rotate the rear arms  54  and move the linking rod  52  which will in turn move the guide pin  522  to rotate the front arms  55  until the locking bolt  61  is engaged with the upper notches of the rear arms  54 , thereby driving the rollers  56  out the sole  40  to convert the shoe into a roller skate. Finally, the pushbutton  66  is turned so that the stop portion  661  of the pushbutton  66  is located at the lower position to lock the roller assembly  50  in place. 
     When desired to collapse the rollers  56  (see FIGS.  12  through  14 ), the pushbutton  66  is first turned so that the stop portion  661  of the pushbutton  66  is rotated to the upper position to align with the chamber  515  of the seat  51  and then the pushbutton  66  is depressed to make the tip  662  push against the pawl  63  to move upwardly thereby pushing the locking bolt  61  upwardly out of the notches  543  of the rear arms  54 , so that the front and rear arms  55  and  54  can be turned to collapse the rollers  56  until the locking bolt  61  is engaged with the lower notches  544  of the rear arms  54  thereby converting the roller skate into a sports shoe. Finally, the pushbutton  66  is turned so that the stop portion  661  is located at the lower position thereby locking the roller assembly  50  within the sole  40 . 
     Although the present invention bas been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that numerous changes can be made to the present invention within a reasonable scope of the invention.