IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lamb Scott, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of" IMPROVEMENTS
IN ROLLER SKATES."
Sealed the 15th August 1876, and dated the 13th May 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lamb Scott at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th May 1876.
GEORGE LAMB SCOTT, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanical Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES."
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of roller skates, the
object of which is to enable skaters when using roller skates to describe figures,
curves, or gyrations in the way in which such figures, curves, or gyrations aro
performed on ice with ordinary skates, and without unduly taxing or straining
the muscles of the ankles and lower parts of the legs, and consists of attaching
the rollers to the under sides of the sole boards of the skates in the following
nanner :-
A pair of brackets is secured near to each end of the sole board of the skate, and
between each pair of these brackets there is a carrier, having a square opening in
which is firmly fixed a block of elastic material, such as india-rubber, and through
this block of elastic material passes a bar or pin by which the carrier is kept in its
place between the brackets. In the lower portion of the carrier is fixed the axle
which carries the pair of rollers. The elastic material being thus interposed between
the carrier and the pair of brackets by which it is held allows the rollers to accommo-
date themselves to any curve, figure, or gyration which the skater wishes to describe,
any of which inay with these skates be described by simply moving tho body as in
skating on ice with ordinary skates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said George Lamb Scott in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd November
1876.
GEORGE LAMB SCOTT, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanical Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES."
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of roller skates, the
object of which is to enable skaters when using roller skates to describe figures,
[Price 4d.]

page_text: curves, or gyrations in the way in which such figures, curves, or gyrations are
performed on ice with ordinary skates, and without unduly taxing or straining the
muscles of the ankles and lower parts of the legs, as is the case when the direction
of the motion of the skate is controlled by the alteration in the position of the wheels
or rollers by the turning, or canting, or tilting laterally of the foot board of the
skate, or by the foot of the skater acting or actuating apparatus connected with the
rollers or the frames carrying the rollers.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will now proceed by
the aid of the annexed Sheet of Drawings to particularly describe and ascertain
the manner in which the same may be performed or carried into effect.
In each of the Figures of the said Drawings the same letters of reference indicate
corresponding or similar parts.
Fig. 1 is an end elevation of my improved roller skate. Fig. II. is a side elevation
of the half of the skate, showing one pair of rollers with their fittings. Fig. III. is a
plan view of the under side of the skate, and Fig. IV. is a section of the skate through
the dotted line X, Y, on Fig. II.
A pair of brackets B, B, (or a bracket cast solid and of the same shape as shewn)
is secured near to each end of the sole board A of the skate, and between each pair
of these brackets (or between the arm of the solidly cast bracket there is a carrier
C, having an opening of either a square or other shape, into which is firmly fixed
a block or buffer D of india-rubber or such elastic, springy, or resilient material, and
through this block or buffer of india-rubber passes a bar or pin E by which the
carrier C is kept in its place between the brackets B, B. In the lower portion of
the carrier C is fixed the axle F, which carries the rollers G, G. On the top of the
carrier and between it and the sole board of the skate is fixed a spring h, which
spring presses on each side of the top of the carrier so as to keep the carrier in
its proper position and yet allow the carrier to rock or oscillate as may be required.
The carrier C, free to move, but controlled in its vertical motion by the spring 1,
and in its horizontal motion by the clastic block or buffer D, allows the rollers
G, G, to accommodate themselves to any curve, figure, or gyration which the
skater wishes to describe, who is thus enabled with these roller skates to accomplish
similar results as those produced on ice with ordinary skates.
It is evident that in these roller skates no action is produced on the position of
the rollers, by the mere turning, canting, or tilting laterally of the sole board, stock,
or foot stand of the skate, the direction of the rollers being entirely effected by
the alteration in position of the body of the skater exactly as in ordinary skates
on the ice, the mechanical arrangement above described of the apparatus by
which the rollers are attached to the sole board allowing of the rollers to accommodate
themselves to the direction in which the skater desires to go.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner in which
the same is to be performed or carried into effect, I declare that what I claim as the
Invention which I desire to be secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the improved roller skate herein-before described and illustrated
in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lamb Scott, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
GEORGE LAMB SCOTT. (LS)