Technical field: The present invention relates to a roller ε3_ate which comprises a front and a rear wheel which are mounted on a footplate and prefer¬ ably having a conve:: curved running surface, where at least one wheel is steerable.

Background:

Conventional roller skates are as iε Jαiown provided with double wheels both at the front and back and can be guided to a certain extent by imposing an oblique loading on the footplate which iε rotable around an axis which in relation to the wheel axes extends at right angles and * '• in the lengthwise direction of the roller skate. So as to obtain a better simulation of ice skating, atte ^m pts have been made to employ roller skates of the single-wheel type, i.e. roller skates with only one front and one rear wheel.

Technical problen:

Eowever none of these types of roller skates has provided satis¬ factory guidance possibilities. With the single wheel type of roller skate the v.'heels rust be inclined or sloped in relation to the verti¬ cal plane if turning is to be at all possible , but such inclination of the skate does not however provide ade uate εteerability.

The solution:

With roller skates in accordance with the invention at least one of the wheels i«pivotablerelative to the footplate around an axis which is at right angles to the plane of the footplate and the wheel is under the influence of a steering member which twists this in either direction around the axis dependent on the inclination of the roller skate.

Advantages:

The invention provides a roller skate of the single-wheel type which has considerably improved εteerability as cor.pared with known

feAD ORIGINAL

roller skates.

Brief description of drawings:

In the following the invention will be described in greater de- tail by reference to the attached drawing in which fig.1 illustrates the side view of s preferred embodiment of the invention and fig. 2 illu¬ strates a section essentially along the line II-II in fig. 1.

Best node of carrying out the invention: " The roller skate in accordance with this invention is of the single-wheol type and coπ rises a footplate 1 and one front and one rear wheel, 2 and respectively. The footplate has -a top surface which iε to support the foot and a lower face which during use is dir¬ ected towards the siding surface. The wheels 2, 3 can be of πetal or hard plastic and have a convex curved run__ir_g surface h so that the contact surface between the wheel and the subsurface is essentially point-like, regardless of the way in which the roller skate is in¬ clined to one or other direction in relation to the subsurface.

The rear wheel 3 is no-anted on a shaft 5 which is supported by legs 6 which extend froir. the underside of the footplate and which are fixed to the footplate 1 or t_ade in one piece with this. The ^" front wheel 2 is mounted on a shaft 7 which is supported by legs δ on a TJ-shaped yoke 9 which furthermore has a cross-piece 13 which extends between the legs. This yoke is however rotably mounted on the underside of the fcotplrte 1 so that -the wheel can perform a pivoting rr.oven.ent around an axis 10 which extends at right angles in relation to the plane of the fcotple.te. 1- re particularly, the .yoke 9 is rot¬ ably connected with the footplate 1 by r.eans of a pin 11 or the like with heads 12 which rest against the top face of footplate and against the underside of the yoke, whichheads thus hold the footplate l nd the yo 9 together. A ber_ring - , e.g. a roller bearing for facilitating the rotary r.over.ent of the wheel relative to the footplate is provided between the footplate 1 and the cross-piece 13 of the yoke .

In accordance with the present invention a -steering nechanisn 15 which can pivot the wheel and which is ef ectiveon thewheel 2 is pro¬ vided for twisting the wheel 2 for steering the roller skate in a rolling direction which is to be determined by the angle of ir.clin-

T.

ation of the roller sk.-_.te against the subsurface. The steering ir.ech- aniε. . comprises steering arm 16 located on one side of the skate and a connecting link 1? between the steering re and the yoke 9 of the rotable vheel. At its free end the steering arm.16 supports a roller 22 and at its other end it iε εwivel-nounted on a pin 18 which is fastened to a fixing lug 19 connected v/ith the footplate and loca¬ ted at a distance from- the yoke 9. The connection between the pin 18 and the steering am 16 can comprise a ball and socket joint or other arrangement performing the function of the ball and socket joint so that the steering arr. l6can not only swivel around the pin but also can incline in relation to its pin 1S. In the example illustrated this ball and socket joint function is achieved in that the pin 18 has a dia¬ meter which is smaller than that of the hole in the steering am 16 through which the pin 1o passes, elastic bushings 20, preferably of ^' rubber, being fixed to the pin 18 on both sices of the steering arm _6 so as to regulate and restrict at least the flexibility of move¬ ment of the steering εra laterally. Furthermore the steering arm lβ is under the influence of a spring 21 which is so arranged that it tries to keep a supporting roller , arranged at the steering arm at its end which faces away froc its shrivelling point l£, resting against the subsurface.

The connecting link 17 between the yoke 9 and steering ars .6 comprises a pin 23 which is fastened to the leg of the yoke which extends inwards through a hole in the steering ar . 1ό at a. radial dis- tance from the latters swivelling sis, and having ≥ diameter larger than that of the pin 25, which or. both sides cf the steering aπr. lδ is provided with elastic bushings 2*÷, preferably of rubber, which fix the steering rm .6 on the pin 25 but which permit relative Eiove- πent between the latter in the same way as does the connection between the steering arm lβ and its swivel pir. iS. like the connection between- the steering arr. _& and its swivel pin.18, the connection between the . pin 23 and steering arr. lβ can also be in the for;: of some known type of ball and socket joint, even though this is not indicated on the drawing. The drawing shows the roller skate in accordance with the inven- . tion where it is also provided with toe stops 26 which can be of some known type.

The roller skate in accordance with the invention -functions as follows, whereby as an example it is assumed that the roller skate illustrated on the drawing iε a sliate for the right foot. In order to'εl:ate straight ahead the roller skate iε maintained at right ang- le to the subsurface having the longitudinal plane designated as A in fig. 2. Here the steering mechanism 15 is so adapted, as a res¬ ult of suitable dimensioning and connection between its components, that the axis 7 of the rotable wheel 2 is at fight angles to plane A, so that the rolling direction of the wheel extends in the irec- tion of this plane. The wheel axes 5 &&& 7 are in this position thus parallel vrfLth each other and the pins 18 and 25 are in line with the' a_±ε 7 f the swivel wheel. If an outside turn is required, i.e. a turn towards the right in fig. 2, the roller skate is inclined out- warels, i.e. in the direction of plane A in relation to the subsur- face indicated by the arrow 27 in fig- 2, as a result of which the steering ana .6 swivels inwards towards the footplate 1 around its pin 18 and as a result the portion of pin 2 located in its steering arm is also caused to move along an essentially curved path around the pin 18 and by this means to rotate the yoke 9 sround its axis 10 in the direction indicated in fig. 1 by arrow 28. Thus the wheel 2 iε automatically adjusted to the desired skating direction. In the sane way, the wheel is twisted into the opposite direction if the roller skate is inclined inwards, i.e. in the direction of plane A indicated in fig. 2 by arrow 29, in order to perform an inner turn, i.e. to turn to the left in fig. 2. Eere the spring 21 provides the swivelling of the steering arm 6 around its pin 1o which is required for steering purposes and which swivelsthe wheel in the direction of arrow 0 around axis 10.

Kence the .roller 22 comprises a member which senses whether and how the subsurface is inclined in relation to a plane whic is at right angles to the plane A and is tangent to the contact surfaces of the wheels.

The present invention is not restricted to the embodiment des¬ cribed above and illustrated on the drawing, but can also be changed, modified and supplemented in many different ways within the framework of the concept of the invention described in the patent claims. - ^* The essential feature of the invention iε that a member rests in such a

way against the skating subsurface that the εr.gle of the roller sltate relative to the subsurface is sensed in such a wa that the direction of rolling of the steerable wheel or wheels iε altered in accordance with the angle of inclination in the manner specified above. Eoth the member which rests against the subsurface and the steering mechanisa as such can be designed in different ways within the framework of this function.. Thus it is completely within the framework of the inventive concept to provide.a steering arri 16 on each side of the roller skate, so tliat positive steering without spring action can be achieved. The sensing member need not be supported by an am at all, but can for

^• e_-ai'."ple perform a slide-controlled movement. Furthermore it does not need exclusively to be the front wheel which is steerable, for instead the rear wheel can be steerable instead of the front wheel, or togeth¬ er with the latter, arranged in accordance with the principles descri- bed above and which exemplify the present invention. This can easily be perceived if we imagine the wheel denoted on the drawing by 2 as being the rear wheel of the roller skate.