IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AND APPLIANCES FOR ROLLER SKATES."
Year: 1876

page_text: $6
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Clark at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 18th March 1876.
GEORGE CLARK, of 10, Craven Buildings, Drury Lane, in the County of Middlesex.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AND APPLIANCES FOR ROLLER SKATES."
This Invention relates to improved arrangements and combinations in the construc-
tion of roller skates, and in appliances for the same, which for greater facility of
description I divide into five parts, namely :-
Part No. 1 is applicable to the footboard or platform of the skate, having for its
object the means of enabling the skater, when standing on a fixed footboard, to
which no rocking, canting, or tilting motion is imparted by any mechanical con-
trivance, to throw the weight of his body to one side or the other of such footboard
so that the weight of the skater's body shall press on the rollers of the skate on the
side to which he alternately inclines his body more than on the rollers on the other
side of such footboard.
This arrangement is carried into effect by affixing to about the centre of the top
of the footboard, longitudinally, a narrow ridge or elevation running from the heel to
the toe of the footboard, about one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch in height and
width, and then covering the same with india-rubber or felt, or any other elastic or
pliable substance, or any kind of spring suitable for the purpose, either over the entire
surface of the platform or only over the axles, and fastening the india-rubber or other
pliable or elastic material employed to the two sides of the platform. The said central
longitudinal ridge or elevation may be a strip of wood or metal, or any other suitable
material, fastened to the top of the platform longitudinally, or the said ridge or eleva-
tion on the footboard may be produced by bevelling the footboard from or about the
centre of its surface longitudinally to its two sides so as to leave a width of from
one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch at or about the centre level, the bevils being
inclined to the same extent on each side. The result obtained by this arrangement
is that the rocking, canting, or tilting motion of the platform, laterally or longi-
tudinally, for the purpose of transferring the pressure of the weight of the skater
from side to side of the platform is entirely dispensed with, and the radiations of
the axles are produced and adapted to the diameter of any curve or gyration
imparted to the skate is accomplished by means of the friction or cramping of the
rollers on the surface over which they travel as effectually and more simply than by
the rocking, canting, or tilting of the platform.
Part No. 2 is a plan for the construction of roller skates so arranged that the
rollers when propelled by the motive action of the skater in a straight or curvilinear
Price &d 1

page_text: line shall travel on castor rollers in the same manner as tables, bedsteads, or other
articles of furniture are or may be moved about in any desired direction, and by way of
distinction I call this plan the castor system of roller skates. To carry this part of
the said Invention into execution I fix each roller of the skate in a frame in the
manner of a castor, in which frame each roller revolves independently (on its own
axis), and each of such frames has a vertical rotary motion of its own by being made
to pivot and revolve at its top, at and under one end of a horizontal plate or shaft,
such plate having another roller with its frame pivoted and revolving at its other
end and constituting a common axle for the two rollers and their frames attached to
it. Two of these horizontal plates, each with two rollers and their frames attached
to the said plates respectively are at their centres fixed to and pivoted on the two
ends of a longitudinal horizontal plate or shaft, which constitute an axletree
connecting the two first-mentioned horizontal plates at their respective centres. By
this arrangement each of two roller with their frame has an independent revolving
motion at each end of the aforesaid horizontal plate or shaft forming their common
axle, which also being pivoted on and to the footboard of the skate, one under the
front the other under the heel of the same, have each of them perfect liberty of
radiation in any direction which may be imparted to it by the motions of the skater.
The two axles, with their two rollers and frames at the end of each plate or shaft
being pivoted to the footboard, may be made to revolve on their centres respectively
in the same manner as the axles of roller skates constructed in the ordinary way,
with the advantage that when curvilinear motions are imparted to the skate the
rollers on either side of the skate will not drag or cramp on the surface of the floor
because the independent vertical revolution of the frame of each castor roller will
instantaneously adapt itself to the straight or curvilinear direction given to the
rollers. In order to regulate and control the radiation of the before mentioned
horizontal plates or shafts, which constitute the axles of each pair of castor rollers
and their frames, connect two of the said frames of the castor rollers to each other
by means of spiral springs horizontally in a way similar to that described in my
Invention of improvements in roller skates for which I applied for a certificate of
Provisional Protection No. 929, dated 4th March 1876.
Part No. 3 consists in a combination for the construction of the axles and the
axletree of any pair of skate rollers whereby the shaft or axletree between the
roller axles constitutes a spring connecting the two axles, and may be made to
facilitate the transfer of the weight of the skater from the rollers on one side of the
skate to the rollers on the other side of the skate, according to the desire of the
skater to impart a curvilinear direction to the skate to the right or to the left.
The mode of adapting this part of the said Invention to the purpose just abovo
described consists in supporting the footboard of the skate in such a manner that
by means of descending bars from the footboard each bar shall press alternatively on
each end of the spring of the axle close to each roller.
Part No. 4 is a plan for regulating and controlling the radiating movements of
the axles of roller skates constructed on the plan of my Invention for improvements
in roller skates for which I applied for a certificate of Provisional Protection No. 4330,
dated 14th December 1875.
In the said Provisional Specification a plan of causing the footboard to revolve on
the centre of the axle by pivoting a plug or pin fastened to the bottom of the foot-
board in a tube fixed on the top of the axle is described, and in order to render this
arrangement available for the purpose of controlling and regulating the radiating
movements of the axle a slot is cut into the top of the axle tube, and a pin is fixed
to one side of the plug or pin which pivots inside the said tube, and this pin is
inserted in the slot, a certain space of one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch being
left between the sides of the slot and of the pin so that the revolution of the axle
tube round the plug or pin fixed to the footboard and consequently the radiation
of the axle may be regulated and controlled to any desired degree according to the
diameter of the curve to which it is intended to limit the curvilinear motions of the
skate.

page_text: Part No. 5 is a detached and removable appliance, which may be affixed to and
detached from the fixed and level footboard of a skate for the purpose of enabling
the skater to apply the weight of his body on one side or the other of such footboard,
and consequently over the rollers on each side of the skate alternately, more casily
than he could without the application of the said appliance, which consists in the
formation of a detached and removable sole of the same form as the footboard and
made to fit on the latter. The thickness of this sole may be from one-quarter to
three-eighths of an inch, and about the same width at or about the centre longi-
tudinally from heel to toe, this thickness forming a longitudinal ridge or elevation,
from each side of which the material of which the sole is composed is bevilled to
cach side thereof to the thickness of one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch, more
or less. To and over this sole an elastic or pliable covering, such as india-rubber,
felt or other suitable substance or springs may be placed and attached so that the
effect of the said combination will be that the aforesaid appliance or solo being
placed on the level surface of a fixed footboard will assist the skater standing on
it to incline and throw the weight of his body more readily and effectually to one
side or the other of the skate at pleasure.
A mode of attaching the said sole to the footboard of a skate is to affix pegs at two
or three points of the centre of the footboard longitudinally in a line corresponding
to the longitudinal central ridge or elevation on the sole, as before described, and per-
forating in the said ridge or elevation holes corresponding in position and size to the
aforesaid pegs affixed to the platform, by which means the said removeable sole will
be easily attached to and removed from the footboard. The aforesaid may be made
of wood, metal, paper mache, gutta percha, or any other suitable material."
The plan for enabling the skater to throw the weight of his body to one side or
the other or the footboard herein-before described in parts Nos. 1 and 5 of the said
Invention, may be carried into effect on the bevelled footboard of the skate or on the
bevelled detached sole respectively without covering either of them with india-rubber
or any other elastic or pliable material or spring, and the aforesaid detached and
removable appliance or sole may be made use of on a fixed and level footboard by
attaching the former to the surface of the with screws or otherwise, or by detaching
it in a similar way to the sole of the skater's boot or shoe, reversing the said detached
appliance or sole so that its level side shall be in contact with the sole of the skater's
boot or shoe and the ridge or elevation underneath, by which means when the
skater places bis foot on the level footboard of a skate the ridge or elevation of the
said appliance resting on the centre longitudinally of the footboard may enable the
skater to transfer the weight of his body from one side to the other of the skate to
facilitate the movements of the skater in throwing the weight of his body from one
side to the other of the skate by the application of parts No. 5 of the said Invention.
The heel plate of the skate may be fastened to the heel of the footboard with springs,
or the heel plate itself may be slipped from the top towards the bottom thereof so
as to facilitate the to-and-fro action of the skater's foot resting on the central ridge
herein-before referred to.