NEW AND IMPROVED ROLLER SKATES
Year: 1876

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PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Howitt at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 18th January 1876.
WILLIAM HOWITT, of Ilford, in the County of Essex. "NEW AND IMPROVED
ROLLER SKATES."
The main features of novelty and improvement in the first part of this Invention.
consist in substituting two or more separate spheres in the place of the cylindrical
or other shaped rollers now used in the construction of roller skates. The said
spheres having no fixed axes of motion, but, being universal in their movement
after the manner of the well-known ball-and-socket joint or connection used in
machinery.
The following is an example of the construction of the new and improved roller
skate above mentioned, that is to say :-To the under side of the sole of the skate on
which the foot of the skater is intended to rest I adapt two or more balls or
spheres, say for example one ball at the heel part, and two at the toe part or two
at each end, or two balls in a line with the centre of the sole of the skate, in the
direction of its length as may be found best in practice. The aforesaid balls or
spheres are held in position as follows:-Inverted cup-shaped castings (cach to
contain one sphere), are fixed to the under side of the sole of the skate, and each of
the said cups is fitted with antifriction rollers, the edges whereof should be of the
same curve as the surface of the sphere which they are intended to embrace. A
plate with a hole at its centre is fixed by screws or otherwise to the edge of the
aforesaid cup for retaining the sphere in the cup, the hole at the centre of the said
plate being sufficiently large not to touch against the sphere when in motion.
these means universal motion of skates is obtained comparatively without friction,
enabling the skater to move with facility. in any direction, so as to describe curves
or circles or even to turn on a point, thus dispensing with the necessity for
canting" as is now necessary to enable skaters to describe a curved or circular
movement.
By.
The features of novelty and improvement in roller skates as regards the second
part of this Invention, consist in constructing such said skates in the following
manner, that is to say-Instead of forming the rollers each of a solid piece of wood
as now practised it is proposed to make such said rollers in parts, and to combine
metal therewith as follows:-Suppose for example each roller to be made of two
narrow cylinders of wood, between these two pieces a washer or disc of metal is
placed, and if necessary fixed, the outer edge of the said washer being formed half

page_text: round. A strap of metal fixed to the under side of the sole of the skate embraces
two compound rollers of the above construction, and supports them by a spindle
which passes through the centre of the said rollers.
Roller skates of the above construction operate as follows:-The skate is
supported by the edges of the washers on the rollers resting on the surface that is
to be skated upon, for example say, four rollers, two in the front and two at the
back part of the skate. In this position of the rollers the skater may move in a
direct or straight line; should he wish to move in a curved direction he has only to
throw his weight on one side so as to raise the other and opposite rollers off the
ground, and if he desires to perform a very sharp curve by throwing his weight still
more over the outermost edge of the rollers will be brought into contact with the
skating surface, and by thus resting on two circles of different diameters the rollers
will move like cones and enable the skater to move in a circle of small radius.