This invention relates to a skateboard assembly that may be used as a skiing simulator or skiing practice device.

Reference may be made to US Patent 4235448 which describes a skateboard type platform using standard skateboard hardware including wheels, axles, trucks and mounting devices which is characterized by having a lowered footplate on either side of an elevated and longitudinally extending central partition for placement of a user's feet in parallel position thereby simulating the foot placement, posture and turning motions involved in snow skiing.

This conventional skiing simulator was useful when the user utilized the simulator when all four wheels engaged the ground or snow and thus the user could turn left or right as was desired by the user by placing more weight on the left or right footplate. However the simulator was not really designed to leave the ground and was thus incapable of carrying out lifts when desired by the user which is useful in carrying out ski jumping or turning motions such as parallel turns. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a skateboard assembly useful as a skiing simulator which alleviates the disadvantages of the prior art.

The skateboard assembly of the invention includes a body having ground supporting wheels wherein the body is provided with a pair of foot location areas characterized in that said body is provided with a least one pair of lugs each extending over an adjacent foot location area to define a foot receiving recess whereby said skateboard assembly is capable of movement in use from left to right having regard to a direction of travel and also lifting movement. The foot location areas may form part of a platform and thus include right and left positions of the platform having regard to the direction of travel of the skateboard assembly. However it is more preferred to provide a central and longitudinally extending elevated partition or rib which separates the body into a pair of footplates or footwells. Each lug may be located adjacent a front end of the skateboard assembly having regard to the direction of travel so that a U-shaped or channel shaped recess may be formed in end elevation. However less preferably a V-shaped recess may be formed.

In another arrangement there may be provided a foot retaining member having an intermediate part having a pair of arcuate wings which each extend outwardly from the intermediate part so that when the foot retaining member is releasably attached or permanently attached to a central part of the skateboard assembly there is provided a pair of foot retaining recesses which are defined at least in part by a respective wing and an adjoining foot plate or footwell located below an associated wing.

The invention also includes within its scope the foot retaining member per se.

Reference may be made to a preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in the attached drawings wherein:

FIG 1 is a plan view of the skateboard assembly;

FIG 2 is a side view of the skateboard assembly shown In FIG 1 ;

FIG 3 is an end view of the skateboard assembly indicated by line A-A in phantom; FIG 4 is a perspective view of the skateboard assembly shown in FIG 1;

FIG 5 is a perspective view of the skateboard assembly shown in FIG 1 from a front end thereof;

FIG 6 IS a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention different to that shown in FIG 1;

FIG 7 is an end view of the embodiment shown in FIG 6;

FIG 8 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the invention; FIG 9 is a detailed view of the attachment of the foot retention member shown in FIG 8 to the central longitudinal elevated part;

FIG 10 is a perspective view of the foot retention member;

FIG 1 is a detailed view of the area marked with a circle in phantom in FIG 10;

FIG 12 is a perspective view of the foot retention member from a different angle to that shown in FIG 10;

FIG 13 is a side view of the assembly of the foot retention member and central longitudinal elevated part shown in FIG 9;

FIG 14 is a perspective view of a different foot retention member to that shown in FIGS 8-13; and

FIG 15 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIGS 8-13 provided with a handlebar to provide a scooter.

The skateboard assembly 10 shown in the drawings and particularly in FIGS 1 and 4 includes side flanges 12 and 13 extending inwardly towards a rear end 14 and side flanges 15 and 16 extending inwardly towards a front end 17. There is also provided a central longitudinal elevated part or partition or rib 18 which separates opposed footwells or footplates 9 and 20. Partition 16 has angled side walls 21 and 22 and there is also provided front extension 23 and rear extension 24 to which are attached wheel axles 25 and 26 as shown in FIG 1 which have wheels 27 and 28 attached to axle 25 and wheels 29 and 30 attached to axle 26. Rear extension 24 is also provided with an upwardly Inclined section or spoiler 31.

It is a feature of the invention that there are provided foot retaining projections or lugs 32 and 33 which each extend inwardly towards partition 18 and which have a side edge 34 that is initially arcuate or curved adjacent front end 17 at 35 and then forms a tapered intermediate part 36 that tapers outwardly from partition 18 which defines a longitudinal axis of body 11 from front end 17 to rear end 14 and a curved rear part With the provision of lugs 32 and 33 there is provided a pair of foot retaining recesses 38 as best shown in FIG 3 formed by each lug 32 and 33, side flange 15 and part of side flange 12 and side flange 16 and part of side flange 13 as shown in FIG 1 and part 39 of each footplate 19 and 20 directly below each lug 32 and 33.

Each of wheel axles 25 and 26 and attached wheels 27, 28, 29 and 30 are similar to a conventional skateboard truck as described in US Patent 4235448 and are usually metal cast parts that connect each wheel 27, 28, 29 and 30 to body 11 as shown in FIG 2. Each truck 40 has a support body or hangar 41 and bush assembly 42 that allows a rider of skateboard assembly 10 to turn the skateboard from left to right or vice versa as is desired by the rider by shifting his or her weight to a left footplate 20 or a right footplate 19 or vice versa. A conventional truck is well known and is described for example at

www.hdskate.com/skateboardlnq-articles/beQinners/skateboa rd-anatomv/

The fundamental advantage of the present invention over the skiing simulator using a skateboard-type platform as shown in US Patent 4235448 is that a person learning the art of snow skiing has a secure retention of each foot due to lugs 32 and 33 and thus has far greater control in lifting from the ground such as when turning usually parallel turns or snow plough turns or when carrying out jumps. This is shown by the arrows in FIG 5. In contrast the skiing simulator of US Patent 4235448 is restricted, to turning left and right in a horizontal plane and the skateboard type assembly of US Patent 4235446 is not designed to leave the ground. It will also be appreciated that lugs 32 and 33 may be integral with body 11 and thus may be formed as a one piece plastics moulding by injection moulding, rotational moulding, compression moulding or other suitable technique. However it is within the scope of the invention that lugs 32 and 33 may be clipped, fastened or otherwise attached to a skateboard assembly such as described in US Patent 4235448 which in this embodiment may be formed from metal or a one piece plastics moulding. In a preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in FIGS 6-7 each lug or protrusion 32 and 33 may be provided with a series of spaced holes or attachment apertures 40 which are aligned with a corresponding series of holes 41 in body 11 and more particularly in flanges 15 and 12 and flanges 16 and 13: Fasteners 42 may then be inserted through each pair of aligned holes 40 and 41. More preferably each of protrusions 32 and 33 may be substantially L shaped as shown in FIG 7 with the upright 43 of the L extending over each recess 38 and the foot 44 of the L being attached to adjacent flanges 16 and 13 and 15 and 12 respectively by fasteners 42 extending through aligned pairs of holes 40 and 41 in the foot 44 of the L and in an adjacent flange. Additional holes or attachment apertures 45 may be included in each upright 43 if required.

The above feature has the benefit of adjustability so that recesses 38 may be made smaller or larger to fit varying foot sizes.

It will also be appreciated that by using larger wheels 27, 28, 29 and 30 that the skateboard assembly of the invention may be used for grass skiing as well as snow skiing.

Reference may be made to another embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS 8-13 wherein a foot retention member 50 is releasably attached to central longitudinal elevated part 18, Foot retention member 50 is provided with a pair of wings or outwardly extending side members 51 and 52 which each have a plurality of slots 53. The foot retention member 50 is also provided with a box-like component 54 shown in FIG 9 having a pair of opposed side flanges 55 and a pair of opposed end flanges 56 surrounding a base 57. Each side flange 55 is provided with a front aperture 58 and a vertical slot 59 which is best shown in FIGS 10-11 which allows for vertical adjustment of retention member 50 relative to longitudinal elevated part 18. The base 57 also has a pair of elongate slots 61 and 62 which allows for longitudinal or lengthwise adjustment of retention member 50 relative to longitudinal elevated part 18. It is also appropriate that each elongate slot 59 may also have a curved shaped to allow for vertical movement of retention member 50 to be arcuate if desired. This is also shown in FIGS 10-11.

In FIG 8 retention member 50 is shown clear of skateboard assembly 10 and thus it will be noted that the only method of attachment of retention member 50 to skateboard assembly 10 is by fasteners 62A extending through associated apertures 60A and 61 A in rib 18 and aligned slots 61 and 62. In another variation it may be possible for longitudinal elevated part 18 to be provided with a pair of side flanges (not shown) for attachment of retention member 50. The slots 53 in each wing 51 and 52 are included to make foot retention member 50 lighter in weight and also to provide more flexibility to retention member 50.

FIG 9 shows lengthwise adjustment of foot retention member 50 to longitudinal elevated part 18 and this is achieved by the use of elongate slots 61 and 62 as described above.

FIGS 10 and 12 show perspective views of foot retention member 50 from different angles and locking nuts 63 and 64 are shown in associated aperture 58 and curved vertical slot 59. It will be noted in FIG 11 by the curved arrow in bold that foot retention member 50 is plvotally attached to central longitudinal part 18 along a transverse line which may interconnect each opposed front aperture 58.

The arcuate movement of foot retention member 50 is shown in FIG 3 and as mentioned above this is achieved by provision of curved vertical slots 59. There also may be provided a thin protective pad 65 attached to an adjacent surface 66 of each wing 51 and 52 as shown in FIG 12 so that shoes or footwear (not shown) of a user do not contact surfaces 66 and this provides operational longevity to foot retention member 50. In another embodiment shown in FIG 14 it wili be appreciated that foot retention member 50A may be manufactured as a one piece plastics moulding or solid moulded unit. It will also be appreciated that moulded units 50A may be manufactured in a variety of different sizes such as for children, teenagers or adults.

FIG 15 also shows that the skateboard assembly 10 may be converted to a scooter 67 which has a front handlebar 68 supported by upright 69 attached to skateboard assembly 10 at 70. Thus it will be appreciated that the term 'skateboard assembly" as used herein may also include within its scope a scooter as shown in FIG 15 or a snow ski simulator or grass ski simulator as described above. In relation to the embodiments of FIGS 8- 3, 14 and 15 it will be appreciated that each wing 51 and 52 corresponds to the foot retaining projections or lugs 32 and 33 and that each wing 51 and 52 also provide recesses 71 and 72 best shown in FIG 9 which correspond to recesses 38 and 39 shown in FIGS 1-7. Thus the term "lug" as used herein also includes within its scope wings 51 and 52 as well as any projection or tongue extending over footwells 19 and 20 to define a foot receiving recess 38 or recesses 71 and 72 shown in FIG 9.

The body 1A of skateboard assembly 10A shown in FIGS 8, 9 and 15 is slightly different to body 11 shown in FIGS 1-7 and thus only incorporates central longitudinal elevated part 18A and adjacent footplates 19A and 20A. Also shown are attachment assemblies 24A for attachment of each truck 40 shown in FIG 2 to body 11 A.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the incorporation of a foot retention member 50 will be advantageous compared to the prior embodiments shown in FIGS 1-7 because it is much easier for the user to obtain a lift from the ground using his feet and also makes it easier for the user to step out of each foot retention member 50. It also provides for more direct control of movement of skateboard assembly 10 by use of the feet of the user. It is also cheaper to manufacture and also facilitates retrofitting of foot retention member 50 to a conventional truck as shown in US Patent 4235448. Also vertical movement of the skateboard assembly is made easier by the incorporation of a foot retention member 50 especially for vertical adjustment, and longitudinal adjustment is also facilitated compared to the embodiment of FIGS 1-7.

It will also be appreciated that the term Toot retaining member" as used herein contemplates retention of a single foot as shown in FIGS 1-7 or a pair of feet as shown in FIGS 8-14.