AN IMPROVED ROLLER SKATE
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Carter, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, &
"
Charles Warren, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, for the Invention of
AN IMPROVED ROLLER SKATE."
Sealed the 29th December 1876, and dated the 6th October 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Carter and Charles
Warren at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th October
1876.
HENRY CARTER, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, & CHARLES WARREN, of
Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk. AN IMPROVED ROLLER SKATE"
"
This Invention relates to a simple and improved system for actuating and con-
troling the rollers or wheels of a rink or parlour skate, so as to perform with ease
any graceful curve at the will of the operator by means hereafter described. It is
effected by a vertical pin or stud, which is fitted to a cylindrical bearing connected
to the axle of the wheels, the top of the said pin forming a joint on which the foot-
stock rest, and is designed to carry a forked lever, having control of the rollers by
bearing on a horizontal pin attached to the axle, this fork acting from the pressure
of the foot moves the rollers either to the right or left as desired by the wearer,
the end of the pin carrying a screw and thumb nut, which being connected by a
novel formed spiral spring from one axle pin to the other, and serves further to
adjust the pressure at the will of the operator.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by.
the said Henry Carter and Charles Warren in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th April 1877.
HENRY CARTER, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, and CHARLES WARREN,
of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk. "AN IMPROVED ROLLER SKATE.".
Our Invention of an improved roller skate relates to a simple and improved
mode of adapting the rollers or wheels of rink or parlour skates to the fixed
[Price 8d.1

page_text: part of the skate, so that the operator may be enabled to perform with ease any
graceful curves while skating.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a side elevation of one of our
improved skates; Fig. 2 is an end or front elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a trans-
verse vertical section of the skate taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is an
inverted plan view of the skate.
The wooden foot stock a does not rock, but always remains in the same horizontal
plane. The wheels or rollers b, b, are mounted on horizontal axles c, which are cast
in one piece with the tubular shaft c', through which passes a fixed vertical pin or
pivot d (shown by dots in Figures 1, 2 and 3), which is made fast to the under side
of the foot stock a by screws or otherwise. The tubular shaft c is capable of
turning on the vertical pin or pivot d like the frame of the front wheels of a four-
wheeled carriage. The fore and hind wheels of the skate are mounted on the foot
stock a in precisely the same manner, and the tubular shaft e¹ in both cases carries
a projecting arm e. One projecting arm e is provided with a hook to receive a loop
connected with a peculiarly constructed coiled spring g (hereafter described), while
the other arm is tapped at the end to receive a screw hook f, which catches hold of
the other end of the spring g, which being kept at tension between the two arms e, e,
will always (when at rest) hold them in line, as shewn at Fig. 4; and when the
arms are made to diverge in the act of skating, the spring 9 will always serve to
bring them back to their normal position. The foot of the skater rests upon two
plates h and ', which are mounted on centre pins in fixed bearings, secured on the
foot stock a by screws, as shewn at Figures 1, 2, and 3.
To
The leather straps whereby the skate is secured to the foot of the skater are
attached to the plates and h¹ by rivets, or in any other convenient manner.
the under side of the plates h and ¹ are secured pendant arms i, i, which project
down through holes made in the wooden foot stock a; the lower ends of these arms
i, i, are forked, and these forks embrace the horizontal arms e which project from
the vertical tubular shafts c³, c¹.
When the skater wishes to describe a curve, either to the right or left, he naturally
bears with his foot in the desired direction, and by so doing he causes the pendant
arms to diverge from the vertical line, and by means of the forked lower ends of
these arms to push round the horizontal arms e, e, attached to the axles c, c, of the
rollers, and thus cause these latter, with their respective tubular shafts c¹ to turn
horizontally on their vertical pins d, while the wooden foot stock remains in its
normal horizontal position, from which it cannot vary, as it is firmly secured to the
vertical pin d, which being confined within the tubular shaft c¹, cannot rock or cant
in either direction. The spring g is composed of a single coil of steel wire, and
into the interior of the coil are introduced two draw bars g¹, gl, each formed of
steel wire, bent into the form of an elongated U, the ends of which are formed into
hooks for the holding on to the end coils of the spring, as shewn at Figures 1
and 4. One of the draw bars g' is adapted to the hook at the end of the arm e,
and the other draw bar to an eye or hook at the end of the screw f of the other
arm e.
The main object of having the screw f (instead of a simple hook as at the end of
the other arm) is to admit of screwing up the spring g, and regulating its tension by
turning the milled head, f, so as to draw back the screw f into the hollow space of
the arm e, as will be well understood.
In Sheet II. we have shewn a modification of the above-described arrangement,
the principal difference in the two plans being, that in the skate shewn in Sheet II.,
the wooden foot stock is altogether dispensed with, and the several parts of the
skate are carried by a malleable iron bar a*. Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the
skate; Fig. 2ª is a front or end view of the same; Fig. 3a is a transverse vertical
section of the skate; and Fig. 4a, an inverted plan view of the skate.
As the principal working parts are constructed and act in the same manner, as
those shewn in Sheet I., and as similar letters of reference are marked upon corres-
ponding parts in all the Figures, it will be unnecessary to give any detailed

page_text: description of the modification shewn in Sheet II., as the description of the skate
shewn in Sheet I. will equally apply to that shewn in Sheet II., with the exception
that the wooden foot stock is dispensed with, and the malleable cast-iron bar a*
serves to carry the working parts as already explained.
In Sheet III. we have shewn various views of a modification of the skate shewn
in Sheet II.; Fig. 1b is a side elevation of the skate; Fig. 2b, an end elevation; and
Fig. 3b, an inverted plan view. The only difference between this skate and that
shewn in Sheet II. is, that the hindermost pendant arm i is placed behind the axle c
of the hinder rollers b instead of in front as in the other Figures. The effect of
this arrangement is that upon causing the pendant arms i, i, to vibrate on their
centres of motion, the two axles, c, c, will be moved horizontally in the same di-
rection instead of in opposite directions as in the other instances. This will bring
the several moving parts into the positions shewn by dots in Fig. 3b, the amount of
divergence of the several parts from their normal position depending on the
amount of pressure exerted by the foot on one side or the other of the plates h, h¹,
as already explained.
Having now described our Invention of "An Improved Roller Skate," and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, we claim, as the Invention
secured to us by Letters Patent as aforesaid,-
The combination of the plates h and h¹, and forked pendant levers i, with the
horizontal arms e projecting from the vertical tubular shafts c¹ and axles c of the
rollers or wheels b, the tubular shafts c¹ and axle c being capable of a limited motion
in a horizontal plane in a vertical pin fixed to a foot stock or bar which always
remains in a horizontal position, as and for the purpose herein set forth.
We also claim arranging both the pendant levers or arms i, i, behind the axles c
of the running wheels or rollers b, as shewn in Sheet IIL, so that by causing the
pendant levers or arms i to diverge from the vertical line they will so act on the
horizontal arms e, e, as to cause the axles c, c, to assume a diagonal position, yet
parallel to each other, as and for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry Carter and Charles Warren have
hereunto set our hands and seals, the Fourth day of April, in the year of
our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
HENRY CARTER.
(LS.)
CHARLES WARREN. (L.S.)