Patent ID: 7226085

Claim:
A guard for use in conjunction with an in-line roller skate having a series of wheels which are rotatably mounted along the length of a frame and each of which having a circular tread for contact with the ground and a pair of oppositely facing vertically extending side walls, said guard comprising: a one piece continuous unbroken main body formed of a moldable material having oppositely facing upper and lower surfaces, said lower surface being generally flat and being adapted to contact the ground and the upper surface having a longitudinal axis along which a plurality of wheel-receiving wells are formed in an in-line configuration, said wheel-receiving wells being immovable relative to each other, at least one of said wells having a wall for gripping a lower substantially continuous portion of the tread of a separate said wheel, said tread gripping wall being semi-circular throughout its length and commencing at a forward edge, extending downwardly from said forward edge and terminating at a rear edge, said forward and rear edges being located such as to prevent said separate wheel from rolling forward or rearward within said at least one well, at least one said well having upwardly extending side surfaces on opposite sides of said tread-gripping wall for contacting a lower portion of the side walls of said separate wheel in order to mininuze lateral movement of said separate wheel relative said main body; and strap means for removably attaching said main body to said skate.