US110858A - Improvement in roller-skates - Google Patents

Description

l ottant iaite @anni @fitte MATTHEW H. KIMBALL, OF SA FRANCISC, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JAMES GARVEY. 0F SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent No. 110,858, dated January 10, 1871.

' IMPROVEMENT IN ROLLER-S'KATELS.

I, MATTHEW H. KLMBALL, of the city and county i of San-Francisco, State of California, have invented anew and improved Roller-Skate, of which thefollowing is a specication. Nat-ure andlp'e'ots of the Invention.

This invention relatesto an improved device for applying theswaying motion ofthe body, as made naturally .when turning a' curve in the act of skating, to produce a turning or swinging around in a plane parallel to the door, of the axle and wheels thereto attached ofthe skate, forthe'purpose of causing the skate to follow a curved line of more or less radius, according to the amount of inclination given the body, or, more properly speaking, the'foot of the skater.- Y

The object of the improvement'being to produce a skate which shall be easily and eheaplycoustructed,

be less liable to get out of order than other skates utilizing the saine principle, and which shall be lighter, more elastic to the tread` and cer better facilities for easy and graceful motion in skating.

Description of Accmnpanging Drawing. Figure 1 is a' side view of my arrangement for a four-wheeled skate.

Figure 2 is an end-view of same.

Figure 3 is a cross-section of my box or bearing formy wheel axle. Figure 4 is a side view of this same box or bearmg.`

Figure 5 is an end view,'illustrating a second arrangement of parts to accommodate a single roller.

Figure 6 is sideview of same.

Such parts of the skate as are in no way improved by this invention, as the straps to fasten the skate to the foot, 85e., are not shown.

General Description.

The sole vorfoot-'plate A of my skate may be fashioned in any known way suitable, and may be of iron or wood, 'or other lnaterial.

The skate may be secured to the foot by any means` having increased surface over the axle is-n'ot so liable to cut and wear away the rubber spring or cushion E in which it is imbedded.

I make the-sleeve D separate, and afterward drive the steel axle into it, or it may be cast on the steel axle, either way being cheaper'than making this sleeve solid with and of a piece with the axle.

To prevent the axlesfrom having too much side play, it will be seen in iig. 3 that I` provide little shoulders on the sleeve D, justinside tlle'box F, after passing through the slots f.

Of course many ways may be devised to introduce the sleeve into 'the box E besidespassing it through the slot f, which would beton small to admit it. In iig. 4 I show the slot continued to the bottom of the box to the lower cap o, so that the sleeve can be introduced from belowV before the cap is secured, and afterward little 'metal pieces can be'soldered in, or may? form a continuation of the lower ca p; another way I` showin dotted lines, same ligure, consisting of con-.

tiuuing the slot upward till it widens out to be large enough topass the'sleeve through.

' F is simply a hollow metal box, having the slotted holes' f through opposite sides, which set at an angle from the perpendicular, as. shown in figs. 1, 4, and 6; through these slots the sleeve carrying the axle passes.

In this box above and below'the axle will he the rubber cushions or springs E, which lend elasticity t0 the tread of the skater and produce action, as hereinafter described.

The box F is securedto the sole A by wood-screws passing through the lugs e.

` The springs or cushions E may beadjustcdto have more or less force byfscrewng up the set-screw. G,

fig. 3, which bears-uponl the late H, access being had to the set-screw through a ho e bored through the solo A second method is illustrated vin figs; y5 and 6, where the lower cap a being .secured with screws, when it is. screwed up the spring is compressed, or eine versa.

My skate rnay have any desirable number of rollers suitable, either each roller single or in pairs; where v a single roller is usedan arrangement of the bearings will be made as in fig'.A 5, that is a. bearing on each vside ofthe roller will be provided, which need not be `quite so broad as where but one bearing is used be tween two wheels.-v

' TheI Operatom The operation is as vfollows: v v

vWhen the foot of the skater is inclined side'vvise as iu the act of turning' a curve, the end of the axle on the side he leans is" forced up .the inclined slotand down the slot on the opposite side;.nowg the slotnot being vertical, this' 'causes-a swinging motion'to be given the axle,^a s before stated, in a-'plne parallel tof the skating door, which causes the skate to follow in a, curved direction.

The axles resting in rubber, a peculiarly easy and springy or elastictread is obtained.

I know of the Piimpton skate patented in 1863, reissued in 1870, but recognize no similarity between my skate and his, further than that we both make application of the well-known principle as exemplified in `the carriage of ordinary use, viz., that of swinging the axle to make the wheels follow in a. curved line, and my skate I recognize only as a diminutive carriage7 forfthe foot, utilizing this principle.

I and .Plimpton use the motion of the foot to turn the axles, but, of course, there is no invention in such application aside from thedevice adopted to transmit the motion.

I do not claim my skate as simply an improvement on Plimptons,` but entirely independent of his, and as not in any way infringing.

Claim.

I claimlh'e boxes or bearingsli, having the slots fthrongh their sides, with .the springs or cushions E, :is and for the purpose described.

MATTHEW H. KIMBALL.

Witnesses: GEORGE IARDY,

J. D. BRowNE.

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