HAVING REFERENCE TO PARLOR OR ROLLER SKATES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Washington Parker Gregg, of Boston, of the
State of Massachusetts, of the United States of America, for the
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Washington Parker Gregg
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 7th October 1869, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL PERSONS TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS MAY COME, BE
IT KNOWN, that I, WASHINGTON PARKER GREGG, of Boston, of the
State of Massachusetts, of the United States of America, have made a
new and useful Invention "HAVING REFERENCE TO PARLOR OR ROLLER
SKATES," and do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which it is to be performed, to be fully described in the
following Specification, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings making part thereof.

page_text: My Invention relates to the roller skate provided with one toe and
one heel wheel and two side wheels, the latter being arranged on
opposite sides of the longitudinal medial line of the heel and toe
wheels.
The nature of my Invention may be said to consist in such a skate
as made with each or either of its wheels having a spherical or truncated
spherical periphery (or the equivalent thereof), essentially as represented
in the accompanying Drawings. It may be further said to consist in
novel arrangements of the wheels and of their axle or axles relatively to
the stock.
Of the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, and
Figure 2 a bottom view of one variety of my improved roller skate;
Figure 3 is a side elevation, and Figure 4 an under side view of another
variety of such skate; Figure 5 is a transverse section of a skate as
made with the journals of its side wheels raised above the plane of the
top of the stock.
In these Drawings A denotes the stock or foot rest, B the toe wheel,
O the heel wheel, and D and E the two middle or side wheels, these
latter not having their planes of revolution in line with one another, but
arranged parallel, and on the opposite flanks of a line extending from
the centre of the toe wheel to the centre of the heel wheel. The two
middle or side wheels are to be so applied to the stock as to be capable.
of revolving independently of one another.
Each of the wheels shown in Figures 1 and 2 is a portion of a sphere,
or in other words has a spherical periphery, the whole being substantially
as represented, and of these wheels the two middle ones are arranged so
as to be underneath the stock, the heel and toe wheels being partially
underneath such, and projected beyond its ends in manner as shown.
In Figure 2 the side wheels are supported by and. so as to be capable of
separately revolving on a common axle a, they being kept apart by a 3
shoulder piece b arranged between them and on the axle. This axle
takes its bearings in feet c, c, extended down from the stock.
In Figures 3 and 4 the axles or journals of the two side wheels are
shown as projected from the opposite edges of the stock.
. In Figure 5 the journals e, e, of the side wheels are shown as arranged 3
above the plane of the top of the stock, so as to project from ears ff.
extended upward from the stock, this latter application or arrangement of

page_text: the journals being to enable the stock to be brought nearer to the ground
and wheels of comparatively much larger diameter to be used than
could well be employed were the journals disposed relatively to the
stock in manner as shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4. In the skate
shown by Figure 5 I generally employ for the side wheels what is usually
termed a cranked axle.
Instead of making the toe and heel wheels with spherical peripheries
in manner as shown, they may be cylindrical or thereabouts, or one may
be spherical and the other cylindrical, tho side wheels having spherical
peripheries. So instead of the side wheels having spherical peripheries,
they may be cylindrical, and the heel and toe wheels may have spherical
peripheries as represented.
Generally speaking I prefer to have all the wheels provided with
spherical peripheries because of the peculiar qualities of such, and the
greater facilities they afford the skater for turning about and moving in
curves and for assuming inclined positions without injuriously straining
his ankles or joints. As the large side wheels admit of the skate being
run with greater velocity than could well be had wore smaller side wheels
employed, so the spherical wheels allow the skater to turn with more
facility than he could with wheels having cylindrical peripheries, while
the latter afford larger bearing surfaces which are often of great advantage.
It is obvious that the wheels having spherical and cylindrical peripheries
may be constructed to differ from each other somewhat in weight as well
as in their bearing surfaces. For beginners and most other persons
light skates if substantial enough are deemed the best, but those persons
who may seek for the developement of their muscles and who would
reap the fullest benefit in respect to strength and speed believed to be
attainable by regular and proper exercise on skates of my improved kind
(which are designed for recreation and the promotion of health at all
seasons) often may change the wheels and gradually increase to a
reasonable limit their size and weight to much advantage. There may
be a greater projection of the hub from one face of either or each large
side wheel than from the other in order that either face may be employed
next to the stock as may be most convenient for the skater. Further-
more the journals of each of the wheels may be applied so as to bo
adjustable vertically, or so as to be fixed at different distances from the
top of the stock.

page_text: Figure 6 is a side elevation, and Figure 7 a transverse section of
another parlor skate imbodying my Invention. In this skate there are
duplex arrangements for side wheels. An axle supporter a¹ extends
both above and below the stock A at each of its opposite edges. One
journal 61 projects externally from the upper part of this supporter a¹.
Another such journal c¹ extends inwardly from the lower part of it.
These journals may be fixed in the part a¹, so as to be easily removable
from it as occasion may require. The lower journals are to support a
set of small side wheels, the upper journals being to support a much
larger set of wheels either set being employed at the option of the skater.
In thus arranging the journals both above and below the stock the
skater at his pleasure can by taking off the smaller wheels and their
journals use the larger side wheels, or by removing the latter with their
journals he can restore and use the smaller wheels with their journals.
The fixtures for the support of the upper journals also serve or may
be made to serve to prevent the foot from sliding sideways on the
stock.
I herein make no claim to a globular wheel irrespective of its embodi-
ment in a skate. Nor herein do I claim a skate as provided with one
heel wheel and one toe wheel and two side wheels, nor the mere
arrangement of the side wheels so as to project a short distance below
the heel and toe wheels.
What I claim as my present Invention is as follows:-
I claim a parlor or roller skate having four wheels arranged with its
stock substantially in either of the ways as herein described, and also as
having either or each of the said wheels provided with a spherical peri-
phery, the whole being essentially as and for the purpose or purposes as
herein-before set forth.
I also claim a side wheel parlor or roller skate as made with the side
wheels arranged below the stock or its upper surface and between a toe
wheel and a heel wheel, as set forth.
I also claim a parlor or roller skate as made with the journals of its
side wheels arranged above the plane of the top of the stock, substantially
as set forth.
I also claim the skate constructed substantially as represented in
Figures 6 and 7, viz., with the journal supporters extended both above

page_text: and below the plane of the top of the stock, the same being as and for
the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Washington Parker Gregg, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this 15th day of September 1869.
WASHINGTON PARKER GREGG. (L.S.)