IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROLLER SKATES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Frederic Bernhard Klein
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th September 1866. A communication from abroad by Leopold
Burmeister, of Melbourne, Australia.
-
I, WILLIAM FREDERIC BERNHARD KLEIN, of Great Tower Street, in the
City of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROLLER SKATES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved construction of roller skates, the
object of the Invention being to guide the skates and control the speed at
which they travel when in use.
The arrangement for guiding skates consists in the use of four rollers, two
under the fore part of the sole of the skate, and two under the back part;
those under the fore part are joined together by an axle, which is connected
a framing under the sole of the skate and over the rollers. In the centre of
this framing there is a pin working freely in bearings fastened to the under
part of the sole of the skate, this would allow the rollers to rotate completely,
but as this is not required the amount of play given to the rollers is regu-
lated by means of a rod placed at right angles to and connected with the
centre of the framing, which rod passes through a loose bearing working in a
groove fixed along the centre of that portion of the under part of the skate
sole which is between the arch of the foot and the axle of the rollers. To
give the greatest amount of play this bearing must be moved as close as

page_text: possible to the framing; if the contrary, then it should be placed as distant
as possible, and fastened in its required position by a thumbscrew or other-
wise. The position of the back rollers is regulated in the same manner.
Instead of having two bearings, as just described, there might be only one
bearing rotating on its own axis only, through which the rods from both front
and back rollers might pass, and the amount of play given to them would
then be regulated by the angle at which the bearing was set; this would
dispense with the grooves.
In order to control the speed of the skater and to prevent violent collisions
a wheel is placed at the back part and extending beyond the heel of the
skate; this wheel is smaller in diameter than the rollers, so that it does not
touch the skating surface except when required by the skater. The upper
portion of the framing which supports the axle of this wheel is connected to
the framing of the back rollers, on the other side of which are placed two springs
bending over and conforming to the shape of each roller, at the extremity of
which, that is about opposite the centre of the periphery of the roller, is
placed a break made of leather or any other suitable material, so that when
the skater wants to check his speed or stop altogether he has only to press his
heel down so as to cause the spur wheel to touch the ground, when (by the
connections just referred to) the breaks are pressed against the back rollers,
which are the only ones touching the surface, the fore ones being lifted
by reason of the depression of the heel, and the speed is checked or stopped
according as may be required. The skates may be fastened to the foot in
any convenient manner.