IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROLLER SKATES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Kislingbury, of Carlton Road, in the County of
Middlesex, and Henry Heather Bigg, of Wimpole Street, also in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
ROLLER SKATES."
Scaled the 7th October 1876, and dated the 25th April 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Kislingbury and
Henry Heather Bigg at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th
April 1876.
SAMUEL KISLINGBURY, of Carlton Road, in the County of Middlesex, and HENRY
HEATHER BIGG, of Wimpole Street, also in the County of Middlesex.
58 IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROLLER SKATES."
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of roller skates whereby the
turning of the foot in a horizontal plane will radiate the axles of the rollers or
throw them out of parallelism, and thus cause the skate as it is propelled by the
foot of the skater to move in a curve to the right or left, as desired. In order to
attain this object I pivot to the under side of the foot stock or rest a bar of wood
or metal, which carries at its extremities pivot pins for receiving the frames upon
which the wheels are mounted. These frames are formed with arms which
extend towards the centre of the foot stock, where they are coupled together
and to a lever pivotted to the foot stock. This lever underlies, say, the forward
frame, and it is pierced to allow of the pivot pin or the journal of the frame
passing through it and serving as a fulcrum for it to rock on. The extremities
of these extension arms are slotted to receive a screw pin carried by the under-
lying lever, and which by means of a nut connects the frames and lever together.
By this arrangement the skater when he turns his foot to the right or left will
through the rack lever pivotted to the foot stock cause the roller frames to turn
simultaneously on their pivots, and thus bring the rollers into a position for describing
a curve.
In order to restore the frames to their normal position, at which time the roller
axles will be parallel to each other, the extension arms of the frames are connected
together by a coiled spring or its equivalent, which will yield to allow of the frames

page_text: turning on their pivots to the right or left, and will, when the lateral pressure
of the rock lever is removed, contract and draw them back into their first
position. .
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Samuel Kislingbury and Henry Heather Bigg in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 25th October 1876.
SAMUEL KISLINGBURY, of Carlton Road, in the County of Middlesex, and HENRY
HEATHER BIGG, of Wimpole Street, also in the County of Middlesex. " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROLLER SKATES."
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of roller skate 'whereby the
turning of the foot in a horizontal plane will radiate the axles of the rollers or
throw them out of parallelism, and thus cause the skate as it is propelled by the
foot of the skater to move in a curve to the right or left, as desired.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shown in several views the arrangement of
mechanism constituting our Invention.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved roller skate complete, and Fig. 2 is a
front elevation of the same.
Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view of the skate, the axles of the wheels or rollers
being parallel to each other, and Fig. 4 is a similar plan view, showing the axles
radiated or thrown into the position required for turning a curve.
In these views
A is the foot stock furnished as usual with binding straps and heel pieces, and B, B',
are the wheels or rollers. Pivotted to the under side of the foot stock or rest is a
bar of metal C which carries at its extremities pivot pins c, c; these pins project
through the axles D, D¹, upon which the running wheels or rollers are mounted, and
they are furnished with screw threads to receive a retaining nut c¹. Affixed to the
axles D, D¹, are arms E, E', which extend towards the centre of the foot stock,
where they are coupled together by a screw pin e projecting from a lever F pivotted
to the foot stock. These arms are slotted to receive the screw pin e, and they are thus
free to move out of line with each other in either direction when the axles of the roller
are required to converge to the right or to the left. The lever Funderlies the front
axle, and it is pierced to allow of the pivot pin e passing through it. The lever F
carries a pin f, which is embraced by a central spring G affixed to the rear end of
the bar C. The object of this spring is to maintain the parallelism of the lever F
with the bar C, as shewn at Fig. 3, or to restore it to that position when thrown
out of line by the action of the skater's foot. By this arrangement the skater
when he turns his foot to the right or left will, through the connection of the rock
lever F (pivotted to the foot stock) with the slotted arms E, E¹, of the axles D, D¹,
cause the roller axles to turn simultaneously on their pivots, and thus bring the
rollers into a position for describing a curve, as illustrated at Fig. 4.
In order to restore the axles to their normal position, that is, parallel to each
other, the spring G will, so soon as the lateral strain of the skater's foot is removed
or lessened, act upon the arms E, E¹, through the pin f of the rock lever F, and
thereby restore the parallelism of the axles D, D¹.
To provide for the free swivelling of the axles on their pivot pins, metal or other
collars may be dropped over the pins before the application of the axles thereto, to
form lubricated bearing surfaces for the axles, as shewn at c*.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improvements in the
Construction of Roller Skates," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent we claim, controlling the course of the wheels or rollers by the lever F
pivotted to the foot stock, and connected to extensions of swivelling frames or axles

page_text: on which the rollers are mounted, such frames or axles being carried at opposite
ends of a bar pivotted to the foot stock, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Kislingbury, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
SAMUEL KISLINGBURY. (L.S.)