CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS TAD AD OTHER PLAIN STIRPACES IN SKATES FUR SKATING ON AL OD OTHER Plain SureACES.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Keel, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Hatter, and John Cheshire, also of Birmingham, aforesaid,
Corkscrew Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
TAD AD OTHER
PLAIN STIRPACES
IN SKATES FUR SKATING ON
AL
OD OTHER Plain SureACES.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Keel and
John Cheshire at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 16th July 1875.
We, GEORGE KEEL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Hatter, and JOHN CHESHIRE, also of Birmingham, aforesaid, Corkscrew
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SKATES FOR SKATING ON ARTIFICIAL ICE OR OTHER
PLAIN SURFACES," to be as follows (that is to say) :—
Our improvements consist in the introduction to roller skates of
lateral inclines, limited so as to operate on the front and back rollers
simultaneously, the said inclines being secured to the sides of the sole
of the skate whilst the counter inclines are formed with or connected to

page_text: the axle frame that supports the rollers, which rollers we purpose
making of hard wood or other suitable material, surrounded when
required with an annular flat or round ring of india-rubber. The axle
frames supporting the wheels are united to a revolving base by an axis,
the normal direction of which is in a line with the sole of the skate 5
which permits the plane of the peripheries of the rollers and the plane
of the sole of the skate to vary with the inclination of the body of the
user when in the act of skating, but which said motion is corrected by
a spring that exerts its force in maintaining the sole of the skate in a
transverse parallel plane with the peripheries of the rollers.
The revolving base is also regulated in its range of action so as to
return the rollors to their normal position, that is, the front and back
rollers being perfectly parallel and at right angles with the central line
of the skate sole, but when the skate is held by the foot with the body
in an inclined position the sole of the skate assumes that position, and
the inclines before referred to place the rollers in position for moving
through a curve in proportion to the inclination of the body of the user,
so that by using skates of this construction all the evolutions and figures
made by the skilled skater may be safely and pleasantly produced.
Provision is made for lubrication as well as convenient means for
strapping or securing skates thus constructed to the feet of the user,
and may be made for the use of either sex, as in both cases they
possess the quality of great security to the unskilled or unpractised
skater.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 25
filed by the said George Keel and John Cheshire in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 15th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, GEORGE
KEEL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Hatter, and JOHN
CHESHIRE, also of Birmingham, aforesaid, Corkscrew Manufacturer, 30
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-ninth

page_text: year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said George Keel and John Cheshire, Her special
license, that we, the said George Keel and John Cheshire, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others, as we, the said George Keel
5 and John Cheshire, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with and no others, from time to time, and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SKATES FOR SKATING ON
ARTIFICIAL ICE OR OTHER PLAIN SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said George Keel and John Cheshire, our.
executors, administrators, and assigns, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and scals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six-calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Keel, on behalf of myself
and John Cheshire, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say :-
Our improvements consist in the introduction to roller skates of
lateral inclines, limited so as to operate on the front and back rollers
simultaneously, the said inclines being secured to the side of the sole
of the skate whilst the counter inclines are formed with or connected
to the axle frame that supports the rollers, which rollers we purpose
making of hard wood or other suitable material, surrounded when
required with an annular flat or round ring of india-rubber. The axle
frames supporting the wheels are united to a revolving base by an axis,
the normal direction of which is in a line with the sole of the skate
which permits the plane of the periphery of the rollers and the plane
of the sole of the skate to vary with the inclination of the body or foot
of the user when in the act of skating; but which said motion is
corrected by a spring that exerts its force in maintaining the sole of
the skate în a transverse parallel plane with the periphery of the rollers.

page_text: The revolving base is also regulated in its range of action so as to
return the rollers to their normal position, that is, the front and back
rollers being perfectly parallel and at light angles with the central line
of the skate solc, but when the skate is held by the foot with the body
in an inclined position the sole of the skate assumes that position, and 5
the inclines before referred to place the rollers in position for moving
through a curve in proportion to the inclination of the body of the user,
so that by using skates of this construction all the evolutions and figures
made by the skilled skater may be safely and pleasantly produced
Provision is made for lubricating as well as convenient means for
strapping or securing skates thus constructed to the feet of the user,
and may be made for the use of either sex, as in both cases they possess
the quality of great security to the unskilled or unpractised skater.
But in order that the true nature and character of the Invention may
be well understood, I will refer to the Drawings hereunto annexed.
]
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents in side view a skato constructed according to our
Invention On the under side of the sole A a lengthway spring is
exhibited, marked B, B, firmly secured in the centic to the sole A by
screws. At the ends of the spring the wheel frame marked C, C, is
secured, which roller irames are formed with a centro boss having a
vertical shank for passing through the spring and top loose washer to be
rivetted down on the said washer, so that the roller frames may move
ficely round on the axis thus formed, but which circular motion is held
in check by lateral inclines, two being shown in this view marked D, D,
and which inclines bearing against the front and back of the lateral
arms of the roller frames C, C, have the effect that when the sole of
the skate is depressed laterally by the user, the said inclines will
contract the line of the axis of the rollers to a greater or less radius,
according to the lateral deflection of the skate sole, but this effect
sympathetically alters in its extent on either side at the pleasure of the
The means of fastening the toe or forward part of the skate to
the foot is not shown, as being unimportant, but the usual back strap
and metal plate is introduced, the former being marked E, and the
latter F.
user.
Fig. 2 represents the under side of Figure 1 without rollers and roller
frame, in which view wo are enabled to show the spring and the modo

page_text: of securing it to the sole plate by the four centre screws, as also the
circular holes a, a, where the central vertical shanks of the wheel frames
pass through for livetting on the top side, as before described, and we
are likewise in this view enabled to show in plan the cucular inclines
D, D, and D¹, D¹, the position of which is defined by their being equi-
distant from the centre of the holes a, a, of the spring. These inclines
may be so fashioned as to be connected together at their highest clovation
by the bar b, or this bar may be omitted if preferred, the said inclines
arc secured to the sole A by screws, as shown We prefer the spring
being bowed as at c, c, to give increased play to the spring
Fig. 3 is simply an end view of Figure 1, showing the rollers and
roller frame C, C. The end of the spring B is in section, and the boss
or central part of the wheel frame with the shank & passes through the
hole in the spring marked a, as also through a loose top washer marked e,
but the shank of the wheel frame is not vetted down as it best shows
the mode of construction. We have introduced a stop plate marked f,
shown in this Figure, secured to the back bar 6 of the inclines by two
screws, shown in dotted circles, and this stop is also shown partly in
dotted lines in Figure 1 Its use is to form a normal rost or position
for the expanding force of the spring to rest on, not that we have found
such contrivance essential. The spring being properly set (in temporing)
will save the necessity of such an addition.
Fig. 4 represents a detached view of the inclines as exhibited at
Figure 2, but instead of the back bar being placed at right angles with
the line of the skate (as shown in Figure 2) it is here carried around
the same circle as the inclines.
Instead of extending the roller frame, as hercin-before described,
the wheels may be placed on an axis secured to a contral support, as
exhibited at Fig. 5, in which case the part G, shown in an edge view
detached at Fig. 6, is secured to the spring, as herein-before described;
the lower part has a hole in the direction of the dotted lines for receiving
an axis to connect it centrally with the wheel carriage H, a top view of
which part is shown at Fig 7, with the lateral arms g, g, for working
against the inclines D, D, as also the axis h, h, for receiving the
wheels.
Fig. 11 represents a side view of a skate with the heel portion of the
sole A in section for the purpose of oxlubuting a mode of centralızıno

page_text: the weight of the user and removing the same from the springs; and
instead of the said skate sole being depressed at the heel and curved
upward at the toe to assume the form of the wearer's boot the same
may be made flat from end to end, in which case the shape of the edge
view of the spring J, J, can be modified accordingly. The expanding
force of the said spring is held in check by thumbscrews marked K, K.
The part of the screw and mode of connecting it with the skate sole is
shown in dotted lines A taper bush with a broad flange marked V, V,
to which the lateral inclines are attached or formed, is shown in section
marked L, and in a separate vertical section at Fig. 9, with the incline m
placed in a contrary direction as would be the case if representing the
front inclines. Into the taper hole of this part the counterpart or
vertical axis n fits like the shank or vertical axis of a castor, the
enlarged part at the base fitting the corresponding hollow part of the
bush (L) The shank 1 is formed with a broad flange marked p, p, and
terminating with a split neck marked (9), shown also detached at Fig. 10.
In the opening of this neck the top central part of the wheel carrier
works on an axis defined in dotted lines marked y, y. The ends of the
lateral arms of the wheel carriages are shown in Figure 11, marked 1', 1º,
and these arms being straight from side to side present a surface for the
divided ends of the spring to rest on, as best seen at Fig. 12, marked s, s.
The said arms are supported in the open part of the neck q, before
referred to at Figure 10, by an axis, as shown in dotted lines in that
Figure at y, y.
The neck part engaging with the bush L, and held in position by a
set screw (shown separate at Figure 8, and in section at Figure 11,
marked t) makes its connection with the sole of the skate A thoroughly
secure and free from all lateral or loose movements, notwithstanding
it has the power of revolving in the bush on the pin n, but the con-
nection of the part, Figure 10, with the arms carrying the wheels by
the axis before referred to, permits the sole of the skate to be inclined,
as shown at Fig. 13, or in the contrary direction, as the user requires.
If desired a segment may be engraved on the part M, and a pointer
may descend from the neck to indicate the lateral range of the sole
of the skate with the plane on which the wheels rest, as shown in the
last two Figures, 12 and 13, but this is more fanciful than useful, and
the metal plate N, N, N, in the same Figures may be pierced through
in any ornamental design, as shown, for the purpose of placing colored

page_text: Icather between this plate and the back strap, as at E, Figure 1, simply
for ornamentation.
Fig. 14 represents the bottom sido of the skate solo, Figure 11
showing the spring in plan, in which view the spring is divided at
each end to allow the neck piece, Figure 10, to work between the
divisions bearing against the metal face on which the inclines are
formed marked m, m, and m³, m'. I have represented a difference in
form in the division of the ends of the spring to show that the shape is'
not arbitrary.
The distance of the circular inclines from the central action of the
arms or carriage in connection with the wheels may be more or less
contracted as desired; as for instance, the lower surface or flange of
the bush L, Figure 11, marked V, V, is represented in reverse flat view
at Fig. 15 of smaller diameter, thereby bringing the inclines W, W,
nearer the centre, the effect of which is to act more suddenly on the
direction of the wheels by the user in making his gyrations. As the
working surfaces are exposed lubrication may be readily applied.
Having thus described our Invention, and the manner in which the
same may be practically realised in various ways by artisans accustomed
to this species of manufacture, we wish it understood that we do not
purpose limiting ourselves to the shape and mode of constructing the
general details herein set forth, so far as they do not affect the essential
character of our Invention, as for instance, the wheels on their outer
edges may be rounded so as not to cut a carpet or mark a floor on which
they may be used, and although we have not exhibited annular india-
rubber or other bands around the wheels, the same may be used if
desired, and the skate sole, whether made of wood or other material,
as before remarked, may be preferred by some users straight or flat
on the upper or tread surface, and the spring B, B, may be constructed
in two parts extending from end to end, or divided at right angles
across the middle, and yet be effectual for the purpose here shown, and
the metallic inclines instead of being cast together (as it were) in pairs,
may be formed separate, and suitably secured by screws, thus justifying
that the details may be diversified without affecting the spirit or object
of our Invention, which consists in the use of lateral compound inclines,
that is to say, reverse inclines placed forward and backward on cach
side of the under side of the skate stock, the said inclines operating on

page_text: counter inclines formed with or connected to the metal frame supporting
the rollers, the two inclines having no direct connection with the axis
of the rollers, but which rollers nevertheless are angularly directed to
the right or left by the said compound inclines, as herein described and
set forth, and which system or mechanical combination of parts for the 5
construction of roller skates we claim as our Invention and desire to
protect under these our in part recited Letters Patent.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Kecl, on behalf of myself
and the said John Cheshire, have hereunto set my hand and seal,
this Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One 1
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
Witness,
JAMES S. COCKINGS,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.
GEORGE KEEL. (L.S.)