IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Henry Greathead, of No. 2, Storey's Gate,
Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES
"
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the suid James Henry Greathead
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th December 1875.
I, JAMES HENRY GREATHEAD, of No. 2, Storey's Gate, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to skates having wheels or rollers so arranged
that the lateral canting of the footstand effects the convergence of the
roller axles towards the depressed side, for the purpose of enabling the
skater to move in a curve to the right or left as desired, the object of
my Invention being to simplify the mechanism for this purpose and to
give elasticity and soft and quiet action to the skate.

page_text: I attach each of the two roller axles by two springs, one on each side
of its middle to the footstand, the springs of the front axle being
inclined upwards and forwards, and the springs of the hind axle being
inclined upwards and backwards, and I connect the middles of the two
axles by a bar or a blade spring to which they are respectively pivotted,
and which may be made adjustable in length. When the footstand is
canted downwards on the one side, the two springs on that side tend to
push the two axles towards each other, whilst the two springs on the
other side tend to separate them, and the axles are thus made to turn
partly round horizontally on the pivots of the bar or spring connecting
them, converging towards the side on which the footstand is depressed.
The bar or spring to which the axles are pivotted may be connected at
each end to the footstand and form part of its framing, in which case
the footstand itself may be lightened by making a gap in its middle
part.
Instead of employing a single middle bar or spring for connecting the
two axles they may be connected by two bent springs, one on each side
of the middle of the axle, and these springs may be respectively in onc
piece with the front and back springs on each side, or the front and
back springs on each side may be extended beyond the axles towards
each other so as to meet or nearly to meet, being connected by a piece
adjustable by a screw or otherwise to suit different weights and degrees
of elasticity. I prefer however to make the two pieces connecting the
two axles cross each other diagonally, in which case they may either be
springs or rigid bars jointed to the axles, or each front spring on the one
side may be made in one piece with the back spring on the opposite side,
the two springs crossing each other diagonally between the axles.
The description which I have given above applies to skates having
four wheels or rollers; a similar construction is applicable to skates
having two wheels or rollers, these being mounted within bridle pieces to
which the front and back springs are applied as above described, and
which are connected together either by springs or diagonal bars in the
same manner as the axles for two pairs of wheels.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Henry Greathead in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HENRY GREATHEAD, of No. 2, Storey's Gate, Westminster, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-fivo, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Henry Greathead, Her
special license that I, the said James Henry Greathead, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Henry
Greathead, 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 condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Henry Greathead, my executors
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 immediately after
the date of the said. Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Henry Greathcad, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say :-
My Invention relates to skates having wheels or rollers so arranged
that the lateral canting of the footstand effects the convergence of the
roller axles towards the depressed side, for the purpose of enabling the
skater to move in a curve to the right or left as desired, the object of

page_text: my Invention being to simplify the mechanism for this purpose and to
give elasticity and soft and quiet action to the skate.
Fig. 1 represents a side view partly in longitudinal section; Fig. 2, an
end view; and Fig. 3, a plan looking from below of one construction of
skate according to my Invention. A is the footstand; B, the axles of
the front and hind wheels or rollers, each of which is secured in a yoke
or bridle C consisting of a metal bar bent up at both ends with holes in
the bent-up parts through which the axle is passed. Two springs D, D,
arc secured in an inclined position from cach end of the footstand to the
bridle C to which they are jointed by pins c, c, one on each side of the
middle of the axle. Another spring E jointed by a pin e to the middle
of each of the yokes C extends up to the footstand where it is fixed near
the middle. All these springs acting together when the footstand is
pressed evenly down act like the springs of a carriage to give elastic
support, and to prevent vibration and jar. But when the footstand is
pressed down more at the one side than at the other, then owing to the
oblique direction of the springs D, D, the lower ends of the two on the
depressed side tend to approach cach other, whilst the lower ends of
the two springs D, D, on the other side tend to recede from each other,
and thus the yokes C at both ends of the skate are caused to turn a
little horizontally about the pins c, c, as centres, and the axles B, B, are
caused to converge towards the side on which the footstand is depressed.
This convergence of the axles has the effect of making the skate run in
a curved path bending away from the straight tangential line towards
the side on which the footstand is depressed.
Fig. 6 shows a modification in the mode of securing the springs to the
yoke C, the springs D being fixed on the upper side, and E being fixed
on the lower side of the yoke bar C.
Fig. 7 represents a part longitudinal section; Fig. 8, an end view; and
Fig. 9, a part plan of an arrangement, in which instead of one spring E
two such springs are employed. In this case they are jointed to opposite
ends of a lever F, which at its middle is pivotted on the yoke bar C.
Fig. 10 represents a part longitudinal section; and Fig. 11, a part plan
of an arrangementin which the duplicate springs E, E, are secured at
their lower ends to the yoke bar O, but are jointed at their upper ends to
opposite arms of a lever F pivotted at its middle to the footstand A.
In this case each of the springs D and E on each side may be in one

page_text: continuous piece of metal, stiffened if required, where they are secured
to the yoke by additional spring plates G.
Fig. 4 represents an end view; Fig. 5, a part plan; and Fig. 6, a part
side view of an arrangement in which the two inclined springs aro
combined into one piece D, the metal of which the piece is composed
being sufficiently pliable to admit of its two sides acting as if they
were separate springs.
Fig. 12 represents a side view; Fig. 13, an end view; and Fig. 14, a
plan of a construction applicable in cases where each of the axles B has
one middle whcel or roller instead of a pair at each end. The sido
springs D, D, are here jointed to the stirrup C outside the middle wheel
or roller and extend beyond it to the opposite ends of a lever F mounted
on the footstand A.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim, in the construction of a
roller skate attaching the roller axles to the footstand by springs, those
at the heel and toe having such obliquity as to cause convergence of the
axles to result from lateral depression of the footstand, substantially in
the manner and for the purposes hercin set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Henry Greathead, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-ninth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.