IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles McGuire Bate at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th Feburary 1876.
CHARLES MCGUIRE BATE, of Chatham, in the County of Kent. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ROLLER SKATES."
This Invention relates to skates provided with wheels or rollers and used for
skating upon hard and level floors or other surfaces. It has for its objects im-
proved methods of constructing and arranging the wheels or rollers and the bearings
in which they work for the purpose of enabling the skater to move in segments of
circles of varying radius, so that the skate is simpler and cheaper than in such
skates as heretofore constructed and used. I take a sole plate of wood or other
suitable material which is fitted and firmly attached to the foot of the skater by
straps or other means in the usual way. Underneath this sole I arrange longitudi-
nally at a distance as near as convenient a bar or strip of metal, perferably of
spring steel which I attach to the sole by screws or bolts at or near the middle of
its length, and preferably with the intervention of pieces of india-rubber or other
elastic material to reduce the jar upon the sole plate. The free ends of the metal strip
are brought forward and backward towards the toe and heel of the skate respec-
tively, and are curved or bent gradually downward at a considerable angle, and
the extremities are then bent or retroverted back at the same angle for a short
distance either above or below the strip, but at a distance from the latter sufficient
for a transverse flat bar of metal to fit between them. This flat bar is pivotted at its
centre upon a pin or bolt which passes through it and through the two thicknesses of the
retroverted strip between which it fits. I provide springs of steel, india-rubber, or
other elastic material between the edge of the transverse bar and the inner fold of
the retroverted strip, and I prefer to make these springs adjustable by screws.
Each end of the flat transverse bar is provided with a cylindrical pin or axis upon
which rotates one of the wheels or rollers of the skate in the usual way. As a
modification of the arrangement above-described, I sometimes make the bent back
or retroverted ends of the strip approach nearer to the body of the latter at their
extremities so that the transverse bars which fit between them are taper in cross
section instead of having their top and bottom sides parallel. I make the parts of
the metal strip elastic where bent over, and I also make the pivots or bolts upon
which the transverse bars turn elastic in the direction of their length by means of
Price 21

page_text: elastic washers or other convenient means, and in this way the adjustable springs
fitted into the bends of the strip as first described are not necessary.
The action of tlie apparatus is as follows:-When the foot is pressed vertically
down upon the sole plate the flat transverse bars which carry the rollers or wheels
are kept in a position transverse to the length of the skate, by means of the
adjustable springs in the folds of the turned back strip. When the foot of the
skater (and with it the sole plate) is bent over laterally either to the right or left
the strip between the thicknesses of which the transverse bars are fitted serves as
a cam to divert the latter more or less from a true transverse position and the skate
accordingly describes a curve either to the right or left and of less or greater radius
according to the greater or less inclination of the foot and sole plate. At the same
time the ends of the strip which carries the transverse bars being free their vertical
elasticity affords great advantage in using the skates. Instead of the arrangement
described the recesses at the ends of the strip for the transverse bars may be
forged instead of being bent over, and the transverse bars may have notches in one
of their edges in which the bolt or pivot fits instead of passing through them.
The metal strip, the ends of which carry the transverse bars upon which the
wheels or rollers are fitted, may be arranged so as to be fitted upon the blades
of skates ordinarily used for skating upon ice. For this purpose I prefer to make a
longitudinal division for a sufficient part of the length of the metal strip, and wide
enough to fit upon the blade of such ordinary skate, to which it is attached by one
or more bolts passing through or above the blade of the latter.