IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jacob Joachim Kunstadter at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st December 1875.
I, JACOB JOACHIM KUNSTADTER, of Holborn, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist,―
Firstly. In an arrangement of steel plates, flanges, sockets, or cup
and ball, whereby the wheels and axles are fastened to the stock or foot-
board, and the necessary turning motion is given to the wheels without
the aid of india-rubber plugs or steel springs which are used in the
present roller skates.
:
Secondly. In an arrangement of a divided stock, and adjustable
socket and spindle, or slide and guide, and fastening screws, whereby the
stock or foot-board can be lengthened or shortened as required, so as to
suit feet of various sizes.
Thirdly. In the employment of elastic bands for fastening the skate
to the foot, provided with buttons, hooks, clasps, or buckles, which

page_text: VL
use.
The skate can be made with or without the adjustable footboard, to
suit feet of various sizes, but if this arrangement be employed, the
stock must be made in two or more parts, sliding into one another at the
middle of the skate, and provided with slots, screws, or pins, or other
arrangement, but I prefer to use for this purpose a metal socket, in
which the two ends of the divided stock are inserted, and centrally
within said socket is a set screw, which carries an oval or elongated
plate, fitted with pins or studs at each end, which pins take into the
adjacent ends of the divided stock, and by the turning of the oval plate
by means of the set screw the skate will be lengthened or shortened
expeditiously, and be firmly secured at the required length, and the
stock will be made of wood, metal, gutta percha, or other suitable
material.
The holders or carriers which fasten the wheels and axles to the
footboard are the main improvements in my skate, and consist cach of
two or more discs or flanges made of brass, gun metal, iron, or other
suitable material, the upper disc or flange of each carrier being fixed
firmly to the footboard at such an angle as may be thought necessary.
The lower disc is secured to the upper by a pin passing centrally through
both discs and fixed tightly in the upper disc, only so that the lower one
can move freely in all directions. The bottom part of the lower flange
must be made of sufficient thickness to hold the axle on which the
wheels or rollers run. The lower extremities of the two carriers must
be nearer together than the upper extremities, that is, the two carrièrs
must incline toward the centre of the skate.
By the above arrangement the skate can be made to run in any
direction, according to the skater's foot is inclined to one side or the
other, or kept perfectly horizontal. To prevent the wheels turning
round too sharply a small pin, screw, or roller must be fixed in the face
of one disc and works in a slot or groove cut in the other disc.. The
skate can be made to turn more or less sharply, according to the relative
size of the slot.
bo
Instead of pair of flat discs, as above described, there may
substituted for the upper disc a cup or socket screwed to the stock, and
for the lower disc a ball -moving freely in the said icup or socket, the

page_text: ball being fixed by a screw or otherwise to the upper disc or cup, and in
this case the axle may pass through the lower part of the ball itself or
through a shoulder, enlargement, or flange on the lower part of said ball.
Should it be desired an india-rubber cushion may be inserted in the
socket above the ball.