DESCRIPTION

Use of the ice skate

Ice skates used during an ice hockey match, as with figure skating, have to meet the highest requirements. Constantly, the ice skates are accelerating, decelerating or changing direction. High agility (manoeuvrability) is decisive for the course of the match. Speed is also of great importance, as is the resistance the ice skater encounters when skating. High gliding resistance is more tiring for the ice hockey player and also leads to a low top speed.

Explanation of the current situation with regard to ice hockey skates.

As stated, two important aspects play a role in the use of an ice hockey skate. There is the agility (manoeuvrability) of the ice skate, but there are also the gliding properties. The same considerations apply equally to figure skates. Good gliding properties and maximum acceleration and deceleration properties are also very important in figure skating. This allows for performing the various "elements/activities" more smoothly.

With the ice skates currently in use, the bottom of the blade is profiled. The profile is ground hollow, transverse to the direction of movement, see figures 2 and 3, page 6. The radius of curvature of this hollow is usually between 6.4 and 25.4 mm, but an infinite radius of curvature can also be chosen, resulting in a skate blade being flat at its bottom. This creates a wedge angle a of 90 degrees on both sides of the blade. By providing this so-called wedge angle a with the value of 90 degrees, the ice skate hardly gets any grip on the ice. However, the smaller the radius of curvature of the hollow in the bottom surface of the blade, the smaller the wedge angle a and the greater the grip of the ice skate on the ice. During skating, the surface pressure on the ice becomes very high. Because the bottom surface is also the gliding surface, the skate blade therefore scratches the ice. Hence, the current ice skate is a compromise between speed and agility.

When the bottom of the blade is not provided with a hollow profile, the blade bottom is flat and the gliding properties are good, comparable to the so-called Nordic skates. But the grip is poor because the blade of the ice skate is in fact blunt. Nevertheless, a number of ice skaters partly remove the profile at the bottom of the blade. This only concerns the gliding portion of the blade of the skate.

There are several methods known for sharpening a today's ice skate. In all cases, the profile in the bottom of the blade is reground and there is a considerable chance that as a result thereof the profile has shifted to one of the sides. This must always be checked and corrected if necessary. The profile is therefore sharpened more often than necessary. An incorrectly centred profile results in an ice skate with a different grip on the inside and the outside of the blade. As a result, the character of the ice skate will differ greatly. Apparently, the ice skater ice skates on two completely different ice skates.

Explanation of the blade of the new ice skate

A skate blade has the so-called gliding portion in the middle section of the blade. This portion determines the gliding resistance and therefore the speed. See figure 1 page 6. The acceleration portion is at the front and the deceleration portion is at the rear. The entire underside of the blade according to the invention is flat. The gliding properties are therefore optimal over the full length of the ice skate. The grip is obtained by profiling both sides of the blade. The side of the blade is ground away at an angle in such a way that the remaining material has a wedge angle a of less than 90 degrees. See figure 4 page 6. This creates the desired wedge angle between the side and the bottom of the blade. The desired wedge angle can be selected in such a way, that the ice skate also performs well on hard ice. The feel of the ice skate is characterized as aggressive.

How to use the ice skate.

A blade of an ice hockey skate has three areas with different functions. The middle section at the bottom of the blade fulfils the gliding function. Before this middle section a front section of the blade is used to accelerate the ice skate and after this middle section a rear section is used to slow down (decelerate) the ice skate. The two side edges of the blade provide for the lateral grip. To increase this lateral grip, the blade in those areas is provided with an extra specially formed side profile. By applying this side profile according to all of the user's wishes, the ice skate can be manufactured very customer-specific. The result is an ice skate with maximum gliding properties and maximum acceleration and deceleration properties. This provides for a faster ice skate that is also extremely agile (manoeuvrable) at the same time. In this way the ice skate can be fully adjusted to the position in the game of that the player, for example defender, attacker or goalkeeper. This side profile remains fully present and intact even after the ice skate has been sharpened. Intermediate regrinding is therefore easy and does not affect the side profile. The character of the ice skate therefore remains unchanged at all times.

Grinding the ice skate With the traditional profiled ice skate, the profile is provided in the bottom of the blade. The ice skate is sharpened by grinding this bottom profile. Not completely centred grinding the bottom profile changes the character of the ice skate. Differences in hardness in the iron of the blade already leads to more or less decrease of material. As a result, the ground bottom profile changes.

With the present invention, the side profile is applied once and is not reground afterwards. Therefore, the side profile remains unchanged. Grinding can even take place by working the bottom of the blade with a flat whetstone.