Daniel R. Downen For

SKATE BLADE SHARPENER WITH INDEXING STONE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:

U.S. Patents

Patent Number Issue Date Patentee

8,944,889 February 3, 2015 Frommer, Thomas P.

7,097,547 August 29, 2006 McCroary, Robert

6,726,543 April 27, 2004 Klosterman, Michael W

6,312.017 November 6, 2001 Hardwick, Rick William

6,030,283 February 29, 2000 Anderson, Bradley J.

D394,196 May 12, 1998 Richardson, Phil G.

5,607,347 March 4, 1997 Schoen, Steven J. 5,704,829 January 6, 1998 Long, Jim

D392.536 March 24, 1998 Anderson, Bradley J.

5,431,597 July 11, 1995 Anderson, Bradley J.

5,197,232 March 30, 1993 Ellestad, Everett M.

Commonly, ice skates are sharpened or touched-up using a rotating grinding wheel of a grinding machine. The grinding machine takes a sizeable cut out of the blade each time it is used to sharpen the blade, which reduces the useful life of the blade. The blades become excessively sharp, increasing the risk of injury. Also, the cost of using the grinding machine limits the number of times a skater can affordably sharpen his or her skates.

An alternative to the grinding machine is to use handheld sharpening tools. These tools have a stone that is moved back and forth lengthwise along the skate blade. The stone sharpening surface quickly wears or becomes dirty, whereby the tool must be replaced. Also, the user must manually move or rotate the stone for a new surface. Due to the lack of precision in manually rotating the stone, the stone is worn unevenly and has a shorter useful life.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed to a hand-operated ice skate sharpening tool that functions to prolong skate blade life and lower costs associated with conventional grinding methods of skate sharpening. The sharpener has a cylindrical sharpening stone that incrementally rotates with each stroke, whereby an unused surface of the stone is automatically exposed and used to sharpen the ice skate blade. Since the stone automatically rotates, the invention requires less user intervention and provides a more uniform wear and sharpening pattern. The stone can be manually rotated if the user desires. The stone can be removed from the housing for replacement or cleaning of the stone. An automatically rotating stone would require less user intervention and cleaning of the stone. An automatically rotating stone will also provide a more uniform wear pattern on the stone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, closely related figures have the same number.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the ice skate sharpener invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the invention showing the slot where the skate blade can be inserted and has access to the sharpening stone;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the invention showing the stone and how the user has access to manually rotate the stone if desired;

FIG.4 is an end view of the invention showing the rotation shaft and view along the slot where the skate blade would be inserted;

FIG. 5 is an internal view of the rotating stone, gears, and rotating shaft when taken out of the invention;

FIG. 6 is an internal view of one of the two body pieces when the sharpener is taken apart and the body half is turned to expose the gear teeth;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the skate sharpener of FIG. 1 with an ice skate blade inserted into the skate sharpener;

FIG. 8 is an end view of the skate sharpener of FIG. 1 with an ice skate blade inserted into the skate sharpener;

FIG. 9 is a partially sectioned end view of an ice skate blade showing the concave curved bottom surface of the blade.

Drawings - Reference Numerals

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The sharpener has two generally rectangular half bodies composed of right and left side on the longitudinal axis. A half cylindrical hole extends longitudinally through each of the body halves. A cylindrical stone with attached gear teeth and rotation shaft is place in the half cylindrical hole of each side of the bodies for sharpening edges of a skate blade. The diameter of the stone is less than the diameter of the cylindrical hole within the bodies so that the stone never touches the body and can be rotated within the cylindrical hole to automatically position unused surfaces of the stone adjacent to the edges of the skate blade. The rotational shaft on the very end of the stone is slightly smaller than the hole of the body and extends outside the half bodies. The rotational shaft is what the stone and gear set rotate on. The stone has a convex curved outer surface that is complementary to the concave bottom surface of the skate blade. The stone can be removed from the bore by removing the screws that hold the body halves together for replacement or cleaning purposes. An arch within the body halves gives the user a view of the stone and will allow the user to rotate the stone manually if desired. Gear teeth just inside the ends of the longitudinal body halves mesh with the gear teeth attached to the stone. Each change of longitudinal direction will cause the non-engaged stone gear set to move towards the non- engaged body gear set, which are one half pitch different, thereby forcing an incremental rotation before becoming completely engaged. This will incrementally turn the stone within the body, causing uniform wear and use of the sharpening stone.

The body of the sharpener has an elongated slot that extends parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical hole that houses the stone. This provides access to the outer surface of the stone for the blade to be sharpened. After being prepped with soap or honing oil, the blade is inserted into the slot to position the bottom surface of the blade in engagement with the outer surface of the stone. The half body flanges provide a slot to align the skate blade with the stone. The sharpener is then moved lengthwise along the blade in both longitudinal directions to sharpen the edges of the blade. Each change of direction will cause the stone to slightly shift within the body, engaging the stone gear teeth with the body gear teeth and causing the stone to incrementally turn. This incremental turn will make the entire stone useful in the sharpening process. The slot has a width slightly wider than the width of the blade to prevent lateral movement of the skate blade within the slot. Flanges guide the blade as the sharpener is moved relative to the blade. The sharpening procedure results in blade edges having a non-excessive sharpness, to facilitate skating and reduce the risk of injury. A transverse arch in the halves of the sharpener body exposes the surface of the stone to facilitate the manual rotation within the bore, if desired. The user uses a thumb and finger to slightly rotate the stone and position the stone, if desired. When all of the outer surface of the stone becomes worn, the stone can be replaced by removing the screws from the body halves and removing the stone from the bore.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 9

The invention is shown as an ice skate blade sharpener indicated generally at 10. Ice skate blade sharpener 10 is used to make a concave groove 34 and define bottom edges 36 and 37 of an ice skate blade 33. Ice skate blade sharpener 10 is a handheld device that can be carried in an equipment bag and used at the rink to sharpen blade 33 to the user's personal preference to match ice conditions and the like.

Referring to FIGS. 1 , 2, and 7

Ice skate blade sharpener 10 has a generally rectangular left body half 11 and right body half 12 with a flat bottom surface that curves upward into a pair of upright side walls 13 and 14. Left body half 11 and right body half 12 have generally flat ends 16 and 17 that extend between side walls 13 and 14. Upper portions of side walls 13 and 14 go to define a top wall with flanges 23 to 26.

Referring to FIGS.2, 4, and 8

A skate blade slot 19 extends longitudinally on top wall with flanges 23 to 26 along the length of left body half 11 and right body half 12. Slot 19 is open to each end 16 and 17 of left body half 11 and right body half 12. As shown in FIG. 8, slot 19 has a width that is slightly wider than the width of blade 33. The left body half 11 and right body half 12 has a centrally located cylindrical bore 21 that extends most of the length of left body half 11 and right body half 12. The top of bore 21 is open to slot 19. Slot 19 can have different widths to accommodate blades having different widths.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 7

Left body half 11 and right body half 12 have a transverse arch or U-shaped access 22 in top wall that interrupts slot 19. The bottom of arch 22 intersects the bottom portion of bore 21 adjacent a mid-point of bore 21. Top wall with flanges 23 to 26 are adjacent to groove 22. Top wall with flanges 23 to 26 have transversely spaced inner surfaces, generally parallel to the inner surfaces of left body half 11 and right body half 12 that form the upper portion of slot 19. Top wall with flanges 23 to 26 function to guide skate blade 33 and prevent lateral movement of the blade during the sharpening process.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9

A generally cylindrical skate sharpening material or stone 27 is located in bore 21 of left body half 11 and right body half 12. Stone 27 has a diameter that is slightly less than the diameter of bore 21, whereby stone 27 can be rotated in bore 21 easily, as shown by arrow 41 of FIGS. 2 and 4. Stone 27 has a convex curved outer surface that is complementary to concave curve 34 on the bottom of skate blade 33. Stone 27 is incrementally indexed to align an unused sharpening surface with the lower end of slot 19 with each change of longitudinal direction. Stone 27 can be removed from bore 21 for replacement or cleaning purposes. The outer surface of stone 27 can have different convex curves to complement different concave curves on the bottom of other skate blades.

Referring to FIGS. 4, S, and 6,

Left body half 11 and right body half 12 have a half cylindrical longitudinal bore 21 which is slightly larger than the stone 27. Left body half 11 and right body half 12 also have a half cylindrical bore 61 and 62, which is slightly larger than the stone saddles 51 and 52, respectfully. FIG. 5 gear teeth 53 and 54 are the same pitch and size to match the FIG.6 body half. FIG. 5 stone gear teeth 53 and 54 are one half pitch rotated along the longitudinal axis from each other. FIG. 6 body gear teeth 63 and 64 are aligned with each other. In FIG. 5, the rotation shaft 55 and 56 are the only item that touches the body FIG. 6 shaft saddles 65 and 66, respectfully. When the ice skate blade sharpener 10 is in use, the FIG 5. sharpening stone 27 and gears 53 and 54 will shift longitudinally in the FIG. 6 body half causing the gear teeth of 54 to engage with the gear teeth of 64, which causes a rotational movement 41 within the sharpener. Moving the sharpener in the opposite direction will cause the stone gear teeth 53 to engage with body gear teeth 63, which will cause another incremental rotation movement 41 along the longitudinal axis.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 7, 8, and 9,

In use, blade 33 is positioned on a stable surface with concave portion of the blade 34 facing upward. Drops of honing oil are placed along the slot 19 to lubricate the tool and stone-to-blade contact. Ice skate blade sharpener 10 is inverted, as shown in FIG. 7, and slot 19 is aligned with the longitudinal exterior of blade 33. Left body half side wall 13 and right body half side wall 14 of left body half 11 and right body half 12, respectfully, are gripped with the thumb and forefinger of one hand of the user. The other hand is placed on the skate to temporarily fix the position of blade 33. Ice skate blade sharpener 10 is installed on blade 33 by moving blade 33 into slot 19 and making contact with stone 27. The width of slot 19 is only slightly larger than the width of blade 33, whereby sides 38 and 39 of blade 33 are located adjacent to the inner surfaces of left body half 11 and right body half 12 that define slot 19. This prevents lateral movement of blade 33 within slot 19 and prevents skewing of blade edges 36 and 37 during the sharpening process. The inner surface of flanges 23 to 26 engage sides 38 and 39. The operator moves ice skate blade sharpener 10 back and forth lengthwise along blade 33, as indicated by arrows 43 and 44 in FIG. 7, several times using downward pressure. Top wall flanges 23 to 26 function to guide blade 33 longitudinally within slot 19 relative to stone 27. The honing oil along slot 19 reduces friction between sides 38 and 39 and the inner surface of flanges 23 to 26 to reduce the force required for the sharpening stroke of the operator.

To finish blade 33, ice skate blade sharpener 10 is removed from blade 33 and excess oil is removed from blade 33 with a cloth or towel.