IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC FASTENINGS FOR ICE (AND OTHER) SKATES, AND IN SOLES FOR THE SAME
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Frederick Charnock and
George Addy at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
3rd October 1879.
GEORGE FREDERICK CHARNOCK, of 8, Leighton Lane, and GEORGE ADDY, of
42, Belle Vue Road, both of Leeds, in the County of York, both Mechanical
Draughtsmen. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC FASTENINGS FOR ICE (AND OTHER)
SKATES, AND IN SOLES FOR THE SAME."
The object of this Invention is to provide a secure fastening for ice (and other)
skates which shall dispense with the use of straps, and shall be perfectly self-
contained and automatic, not requiring for its working any keys or other portable
adjuncts.
According to one method of carrying out our Invention, we make use of a sole
of peculiar construction, which is hinged or otherwise jointed to the runner in such
a manner as to allow of a vertical movement in a downward direction when the
foot of the skater is placed upon it, the weight of the body being utilised as the
power for working the clamps. In the construction of the above mentioned sole
we employ narrow strips of thin sheet iron or other suitable material, placed
vertically and bent into any convenient form to suit the shape of the boot, whereby
great stiffness, combined with lightness, is obtained. In these strips we provide
slot-holes, through which the sole clamps pass and in which they are guided, these
clamps having toothed or serrated surfaces for gripping the sole of the boot in the
usual manner. To give motion to the clamps we employ wedge shaped surfaces
attached to the runner, against which one end of each of the said clamps is made
to abut, so that the downward motion of the above mentioned sole when the weight
of the skater is placed upon it, is converted into an inward movement of the
clamps horizontally, thus firmly securing the boot to the skate. The clamping of
the heel is effected in a similar manner from the movement of the sole; or we may
use small levers for the sole or heel clamps, their extremities being actuated by the
aforesaid wedge shaped surfaces as above described.
In other cases we may employ a stationary sole plate secured to the runner with
a hole cut in its centre, wherein works a button, which being pressed down by the
weight of the skater when his foot is placed thereon imparts motion to the lever
or other clamps aforesaid.

page_text: We provide a spring catch fastened to the runner, which, when the moveable
sole or button has been depressed to the required extent, takes into a notch cut in
the said sole or button so that it shall be incapable of moving away from the
runner until the said catch is lifted out of the notch by the skater's hand or foot, a
tail piece being provided on the said catch for such purpose. All that is then
necessary to disengage the skate from the boot is to draw the runner from the
sole when the above described action of clamping is reversed, the wedge shaped
surfaces imparting outward motion to the clamps. A pin or other stop fixed
to the runner is provided to prevent its separating from the sole beyond the
desired amount.