IMPROVE- MENTS IN ROLLER SKATES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Alfred Bowles, of No. 10, Ship Street,
Brighton, in the County of Sussex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ROLLER SKATES."
Scaled the 17th October 1875, and dated the 13th August 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Alfred Bowles
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th August 1875.
I, JOHN ALFRED BOWLES, of No. 10, Ship Street, Brighton, in the
County of Sussex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the combination of the rollers with the stock
of the skate.
My improved skate may have any desired number of rollers. I
propose to set upon the axle of each roller a box, cup, or frame,
enclosing a solid piece of india-rubber or other elastic material, or any
spring which I may find suitable. Pendent from the stock there will
be brackets, arms, studs, stems, or supports for the roller axles.

page_text: To the aforesaid box, cup, or frame I propose to pin or otherwise
attach, so that it may press upon the spring and be free to rock in a
line with the roller axle, the lower and inclined or angular end of the
aforesaid bracket or axle carrier, the upper end of which will be fixed
to the stock in the most convenient manner.
When the skater using this skate is describing a curve the stock will
incline to the one side or the other, and the bracket or axle carrier
oscillating on the pin by which it is attached to the spring box or frame
will press by its lower end upon one end of the spring, thereby causing
the axle to take a diagonal position in relation to the stock until the
gyration is completed; when the stock, coming back to the horizontal,
the pressure of the lower end of the bracket will be even on the spring,
and the axle will resume its position at a right angle to the stock,
and so on.
The roller axle will pass through the box or frame enclosed within the
solid or in a tube, and this axle bearing will always be made in such a
manner that no oil or lubricating material shall pass from the axle and
its bearing to the india-rubber or elastic material.
I propose to use any suitable materials in the manufacture of my
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Alfred Bowles in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ALFRED BOWLES, of No. 10, Ship Street, Brighton, in the County of
Sussex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Alfred Bowles, Her
special licence, that the said John Alfred Bowles, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Alfred

page_text: Bowles, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said John Alfred Bowles, my
exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 John Alfred Bowles, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
-
My improvements relate to a combination of the rollers with the
stock of the skate, whereby the skater is enabled to move in curves with
greater facility than with ordinary roller skates.
My improved skate may have any desired number of rollers. I set
upon each roller axle a box, cup, or frame, enclosing a solid piece of
india-rubber or other elastic material, or any spring which I may find
suitable. Pendent from the stock there are brackets, arms, studs, stems,
or supports for the roller axles.
To the aforesaid box, cup, or frame, I pin or otherwise attach, so that
it may press upon the spring and be free to rock in a line with the roller
axle, the lower and inclined or angular end of the aforesaid bracket or
axle carrier, the upper end of which is fixed to the stock in the most
convenient manner.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawing, Figure 2 represents a side
view of a roller skate embodying my Invention; Figure 2 an inverted
plan of same, in which the position of the rollers when the skate is
moving in a curve is shown in dotted lines; Figure 3 is an end view
of same; and Figures 4 illustrate the various parts detached.
A indicates the stock or foot plate.

page_text: when I use an india-rubber spring; with metal springs this is of
course unimportant, as the oil or grease cannot prejudicially affect
them.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim as secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, the use of the axle box C
with chamber c and spring F, in combination with the bracket B and
axle D, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated on the
accompanying Sheet of Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Alfred Bowles, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.