IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES, THE DIRECTING PRINCIPLE OF WHICH BEING ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Frederick Wood, Machinist, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER
SKATES, THE DIRECTING PRINCIPLE OF WHICH BEING ALSO APPLICABLE FOR
OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES."
Scaled the 7th November 1876, in pursuance of an Order of the Lord Chancellor,
and dated the 25th Anril 1876
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Frederick Wood at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th April 1876.
CHARLES FREDERICK WOOD, Machinist, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES, THE DIRECTING PRINCIPLE OF WHICH BEING
ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES."
My Invention consists of a longitudinal divided stock or foot stand, and imme-
diately beneath the said divided stand, and centrally with its division, I apply a
divided cylinder, hollow or otherwise. Around the two parts of the said cylinder
on the right hand side I apply a spiral projection or screw diverging in opposite
directions (that is to say) inclining forward and backward from the transverse
centre of the stock or foot stand. The other halves of the cylinders attached to the
(say) left hand side of the stock or foot stand having spiral projections or screws
arranged exact in reverse order to the projecting spiral on the said cylinder. The
meeting of the cylinders may be arranged with a vertical dovetail joint or other
equivalent means to keep them together. The wheels are attached to axis having
(by preference) a cranked central hollow boss, the interior of which is wormed
right and left to correspond with the external worms on the other half cylinders;
and in connection with the said bosses I apply lateral rocking arms bearing
centrally on the bosses (or otherwise) whilst the outer ends bear against the under
outer sides of the divided stock or foot stand, by this arrangement the depression
of one side of the stock will elevate the other, and vice versa. And at the same
time the screwed or wormed cylinders that are depressed on one side and elevated
on the other will have the effect according to the degree of lateral deflection of
placing the wheels more or less in the radii of a circle. Any inequality arising
from the divided stock or foot stand. may.be equalized or be compensated for by
hollowing the foot stand from toe to heel or covering it with india-rubber. Thus.
we have a direct sympathy between the sole of the boot of the skater with the
divided sole or foot stand of the skate for directing the wheels and consequent
[Price 6.1

page_text: movement of the skater. The action derived from the wormed or screwed divided
cylinder, without regard to the number of worms or screws applied to the same,
may be beneficiently used for other purposes than herein named, such as for steering
vessels, as by this motion great steadyness and power may be obtained which is
essential in steering vessels of magnitude.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, and
of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Charles Frederick Wood in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th November 1876.
CHARLES FREDERICK WOOD, Machinist, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER SKATES, THE DIRECTING PRINCIPLE OF WHICH BEING
ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES."
My Invention relates to improvements in roller skates whereby increased facilities
are provided for guiding the wheels or rollers and steering the skate in any desired
course under the action of the foot of the operator without the necessity for the
canting, rocking, or tilting of the stock or foot rest, and it consists essentially in
constructing the stock or foot rest in two longitudinal halves or parts which are
connected to the axles, of the wheels or rollers in such a manner that by the act of
the operator vertically depressing one or the other of, the two halves and thereby
elevating the other half the wheels or rollers are locked and the skate is directed in
the required curvilinear course.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood I shall now proceed
particularly to describe the same and one mode of carrying it into effect, and for
that purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings,
tlie same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a side elevation (with the
near wheels or rollers removed) of a roller skate constructed according to my
Invention. Figure 2 is a plan of the under side of the same, and Figure 3 a view
of the toe end, both views corresponding to Figure 1. Figure 3a represents a
modification. Figure 4 represents à plan of the under side of the same skate as that
shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3, but with the axles and their wheels or rollers in their
Jocked or converged position, and Figure 5 is a view of the heel end corresponding
to Figure 4. Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9, represent details to be herein-after referred to.
A is the stock or foot rest, which is composed of two separate longitudinal halves
or portions a, a¹, meeting along the longitudinal axial line b. To the under side of
this longitudinally divided stock or foot rest, near the toe B and heel B¹ thereof,
I attach cylinders C, C₁, respectively, each composed of two separate halves meeting.
in the vertical plane of the longitudinal axial line b, the cylinder C (situate near
the toe B) consisting of the two halves c, c¹, and the cylinder C¹ (situate near the
heel B¹) being formed of the two halves c2, c. Around the cylinders so divided
I form screw threads which are so arranged that the screw thread of any one half
shall be in a direction opposite to that of the screw thread of the other half of the
same cylinder and also in a direction opposite to that of the screw thread of the
corresponding half of the other cylinder.. For example, if the half c of the cylinder C
have a left hand thread, as shewn clearly at d in the detail, Figure 6, then the half c¹
of the same cylinder will have a right hand thread d', whilst in the cylinder C¹ the
order is reversed, the halves c², c³, being formed with right and left hand threads ds, d²,
respectively, as shewn in the detail, Figure 7. In both these Figures the view is
assumed to be taken from the toe end.
The two halves of the cylinders are fitted together by preference with vertical.
dovetails, as shewn at e, e', but other equivalent means may be employed, whereby
they may be retained together in such a manner as to be free to move vertically
in opposite directions. Around the divided cylinders C, C, there are fitted nuts
or screw collars F, F1, Figures 8 and 9 respectively, which are constructed in halves

page_text: in a similar manner to the cylinders, the nut or screw collar F consisting of the
two halves ff, and the nut or screw collar F¹ being composed of the two
halves ff, the internal screw threads g, g, g³, g, with which the halves f, f¹, f², f³‚·
are provided correspond respectively to the threads d, d', d³, d, formed on the
exterior of the halves c, c', c², c³, of the cylinders C, C¹, respectively. The nuts or
screw collars F, F¹, are formed with eyes h, h¹, through which the axles D, D¹,
carrying the wheels or rollers E, E¹, pass, and sleeves or hollow bosses G, G³, are
provided, surrounding the nuts or screw collars F, F, for retaining their constituent
parts together, which sleeves or hollow bosses are furnished with cranked pro-
jections i, i, forming eyes, through which also the axles pass.
The apparatus operates in the following manner :-
-When it is desired to pursue
a straight course the operator bears equally upon the two halves a, a¹, of the
stock or foot rest A, which then remain in one and the same horizontal plane, as
shewn in Figures 1 and 3. If, however, it be required to turn the skate or to
run in a curvilinear track, the operator depresses with the foot one or the other,
as the case may be, of the two halves of the stock or foot rest, and as such stock
or foot rest is firmly secured to the foot by means of straps H, H', the other half
is simultaneously elevated. For example, assuming that it be required to turn
the skate in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 3, the half a of the stock
or foot rest is depressed under the action of the foot of the operator, and the
half a is simultaneously elevated, as shewn clearly in Figure 5, the half c of
the screw cylinder C and the half c2 of the screw cylinder C¹ descend, whilst the
halves c, c, respectively of those cylinders are raised. A partial rotatory motion
is thus imparted to the nuts or screw collars F, F. Each of the halves f. f¹‚ ƒ³, ƒ³‚
of which they are composed turning in a contrary direction to its neighbouring
halves, and as the nuts or screw collars F, F, are connected to the axles D, D₁,
by the eyes h, h', and as their constituent parts are retained together by means of
the hollow bosses G, G¹, also connected to the axles by the cranked projections i, i¹,
the latter, as also the eyes h, h¹, being situate at opposite sides of the centre of the
length of their respective axles, it follows that the four hàlf nuts or screw collars
in conjunction with the hollow bosses G, G¹, constitute four levers whose fulcra
are situate at points k, k¹, on the longitudinal axial lines of the axles midway
between their two extremities, by the conjoint action of which the axles are
caused to converge, as shewn in Figure 4, and the wheels or rollers are turned so
as to direct the skate in the required course. It is obvious that by depressing
now the half a¹ the action will be reversed, the two halves a, a', of the stock or
foot rest being brought into one and the same horizontal plane, or the half a being
elevated above the half a¹, according to the degree of depression or the effect
required to be produced. If desired, however, springs or yielding and resilient
contrivances may be employed for restoring the two halves of the stock or foot
rest to their normal level position for running in a rectilineal course when the
pressure is removed.
Figure 3 shews a modification in which lateral rocking arms 1, 1, are employed
as an auxiliary to the half screw cylinders and nuts or screw collars. These arms
are provided with a boss 2, which surrounds the half nuts or screw collars, and
bears centrally upon the hollow boss, whilst their extremities at 3, 3, are in contact
with the under sides of the two halves of the divided stock or foot rest, so that
the simultaneous motion of the two halves in opposite directions and the con-
sequent turning of the wheels or rollers is ensured.
My Invention is also applicable to locks for shooting two bolts in opposite
directions, and to the steering gear of vessels, and to other purposes for which
two simultaneous motions in opposite directions are necessary, the mode of adapting
my Invention to such purposes will, however, be understood without further
explanation by competent persons acquainted with the particular apparatus to
which it is to be applied.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into

page_text: effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is―
First. Constructing the stock or foot rest of a roller skate in two longitudinal
halves or parts, arranged in connection with the axles or with the wheels or
rollers in such a manner that by the vertical movement of one or the other of the
two halves or parts, or of both of such halves or parts simultaneously in opposite
directions, the wheels or rollers are turned and the skate is directed in the required
curvilinear course.
Secondly. The combination with a longitudinally divided stock or foot rest of
right and left handed half screws and nuts so arranged as to convert the vertical
motion imparted to the two halves or parts of the stock or foot rest into a gyratory
motion of the wheels or rollers, substantially as herein-before described.
Thirdly. The application and use of right and left handed half threads and nuts
arranged substantially in the manner herein set forth to apparatus in which two
simultaneous motions are required in opposite directions, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Frederick Wood, have to this my Speci-
fication set my hand and seal, this Second day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
WAAR