Background of the Invention
1. Field of the Invention
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The present invention is related to a locking device for a detachable skate of sports
shoe and more particularly to a detachable ice/roller skate utilizes a locking device
convenient to pivotally engage with or to release from a sports shoe.
2. Description of the Related Art
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The technology trend in skates manufacturing has been toward convertible shoe
with a detachable ice/roller skate. Attaching the detachable ice/roller skate to the
convertible shoe capable of converting from a shoe into an ice/roller skate at will is
known in the art. Also, detaching the detachable ice/roller skate, of course, capable of
converting an ice/roller skate into a shoe for walking is known in the art. Thus, a skater
can avoid carrying additional footwear for walking or other physical activity when the
skates are not in use or are not allowed. A need exists for improved the construction of
convertible shoes and facilitating their operation. Currently, with increasing demand for
conveniently locking convertible shoes have evolved over the years.
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U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,260, issued on Aug. 29, 1961 to Meyer, discloses a skate shoe
and interchangeable roller and ice skates therefor. The skate shoe includes the
combination of mounting plate secured beneath the sole of the shoe. This mounting
plate is provided with a plurality of headed studs and a lug. A skate has a top plate
matching the mounting plate having a plurality of keyhole slots and a locking slot. The
keyhole slots are capable of receiving the headed studs when the shoe is placed upon the
skate for retaining the shoe assembled with the skate. The lug is capable of inserting
into the locking slot so that a screw mount lug and a locking screw thereof is adjusted to
abut against the lug to effectively lock the shoe in place upon the top plate of the skate.
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U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,038, issued on Sep. 19, 2000 to Dong et al., discloses a skate
having a shoe portion detachably secured to a plurality of longitudinally aligned skate
wheels for traversing a surface. The shoe portion having a sole defining a toe end and a
heel end. The skate further includes a frame having an upper surface and a lower
surface attached to the wheels. The skate also includes a heel latch member rotatably
attached to the frame for receiving and coupling to a heel binding attachment surface
located in the heel end of the sole to the frame. A lever arm is attached to the heel latch
member to selectively release or attach the shoe portion from the heel latch member.
The heel latch member is rotatable about a vertical axis extending normal to the elongate
direction of the frame. The heel latch member is rotatable between a locked position,
wherein the heel attachment member is nested therein, and an open position, wherein the
frame is detachable from the shoe portion to convert the skate into a convention shoe.
However, the structure of the heel latch member of No. 6,120,038 is complicated
manufacturing process and therefore increases mass production cost.
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A variety of other roller skates are particularly disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,333,249;
5,314,199; 5,340,132; 5,507,506; 6,065,759; 6,120,039; 6,164,669 for example.
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The present invention intends to provide a locking device of the skate simply
comprising of a rotatable hook actuated by an elastic member for conveniently engaging
with or releasing from an engaging wall of the sports shoe. The locking device of the
skate accomplishes both conveniently combining the skate with the sports shoe and
simplifying the entire structure of the skate in such a way to mitigate and overcome the
above problem.
Summary of the Invention
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The primary objective of this invention is to provide a pivotal device for a
detachable skate of sports shoe, which allows pivotal movement of the detachable skate
with respect to the sports shoe during assembling or disassembling operation.
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The secondary objective of this invention is to provide a locking device for a
detachable skate of sports shoe comprising of a rotatable hook actuated by an elastic
member for conveniently engaging with or releasing from an engaging wall of the sports
shoe.
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The another objective of this invention is to provide a locking device for a
detachable skate of sports shoe comprising of a rotatable hook engaging with the
engaging wall of the sports shoe that accomplishes to simplify the entire structure of the
skate.
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The present invention is a locking device for a detachable skate of sports shoe.
The locking device mainly comprises a rotatable hook, an elastic member, a lever and an
engaging wall. The rotatable hook is provided on the detachable skate being adapted to
releasably engaging with the engaging wall provided under the sports shoes. The elastic
member is provided to bias the rotatable hook and the lever is used to rotate the rotatable
hook for assembling or disassembling by means of overcoming bias force of the elastic
member.
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Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more
apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
Brief Description of the Drawings
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The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the
accompanying drawings herein:
- FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the detachable skate of sports shoe in
accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;
- FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the detachable skate of sports shoe in
assembled operation in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;
- FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the detachable skate of sports shoe in a
locked position in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;
- FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the detachable skate of sports shoe in
released operation in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention; and
- FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the detachable skate of sports shoe in
accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.
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Detailed Description of the Invention
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Referring now to the drawings, there are two embodiments of the present invention
shown therein, which include generally a primary sports shoe member and a secondary
skate member.
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Referring initially to FIG. 1 through 4, a sports shoe 1 in accordance with the first
embodiment of the present invention generally includes a sole designated as numeral 10,
a locking device designated as numeral 20, a pivotal device designated as numeral 30 and
a skate designated as numeral 40. Much of the detailed internal structure of the sports
shoe 1 is omitted. The sole 10 comprises two cavities 11 and 11' at its underside each
having an appropriate opening so as to contain the locking device 20 and the pivotal
device 30 respectively. A pad 12 is fixed between the locking device 20 and the pivotal
device 30. In addition, the detachable skate 40 is preferable an in-line roller skate or an
ice skate (not shown) and constructs a locking member of the locking device 20 and a
pivotal member of the pivotal device 30 on an uppermost portion of a main frame. The
main frame (not labeled) essentially comprises a toe end and heel end.
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Construction of the locking device 20 shall be described in detail, referring now to
FIGS. 1 and 2. The locking device 20 in accordance with a first embodiment of the
present invention mainly includes a locking seat 21, a rotatable hook 23, an elastic
member 24 and a lever 25. The locking seat 21 is mounted to the sole 10 in the cavity
11. The locking seat 21 comprises an engaging wall 22 formed with a protrusion. The
rotatable hook 23 is projected upward from the heel end of the skate 40 being adapted to
releasably engage with the engaging wall 22 of the locking seat 21 in the cavity 11. The
elastic member 24 is provided to bias the rotatable hook 23 and the lever 25 is used to
rotate the rotatable hook 23 for disassembling by means of overcoming bias force of the
elastic member 24. In addition, the locking seat 21 further comprises a pair of guiding
holes 26 and elastic members 27 received therein. The heel end of the skate 40 further
comprises a pair of guiding studs 28 being adapted to insert into the guiding holes 26 and
thus biased by the elastic members 27.
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The pivotal device 30 in accordance with the present invention allows pivotal
movement of the skate 40 with respect to the sports shoe 1 during assembling or
disassembling operation. Construction of the pivotal device 30 shall be described in
detail, referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2. The pivotal device 30 in accordance with the
first embodiment of the present invention mainly includes a pivotal seat 31 and a pivotal
hook 32. The pivotal seat 31 is mounted to the sole 10 in the cavity 11'. The pivotal
hook 32 is projected upward from the toe end of the skate 40 being adapted to releasably
engage with the pivotal seat 31 in the cavity 11' while initially assembling.
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Assembling operation of the skate 40 with the sole 10 is described in third steps,
referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3. In first step, the pivotal hook 32 is inserted into the
pivotal seat 31. In second step, the skate 40 is rotated a predetermined angle with
respect to the pivotal device 30 and the guiding studs 28 is inserted into the guiding holes
26. In third step, the guiding stud 28 is inserted into the guiding hole 26 and the
rotatable hook 23 is completely engaged with the engaging wall 22.
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Locked situation of the locking device shall now be described with reference back to
FIG. 2. In locked position, the pivotal hook 32 is engaged with the pivotal seat 31 at the
toe end of the sole 10 and the rotatable hook 23 is engaged with the locking seat 21 at the
heel end. The lever 25 is capable of actuating to unlock the locking device 20 for
detaching the skate 40.
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Releasing operation of the locking device 20 shall now be described with reference
now to FIG. 4. In releasing operation, the lever 25 is rotated a predetermined angle in
clockwise direction to thereby disengage the rotatable hook 23 with the engaging wall 22.
As the rotatable hook 23 rotates a predetermined angular distance round its axis, it is
disengaged with the engaging wall 22. In released situation, the heek end of the skate
40 is automatically released from the sole 10 by means of bias force of the elastic
member 27. The rotatable hook 23 is reciprocated at an original position by means of
bias force of the elastic member 25 while releasing the lever 25.
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Referring to FIG. 5, reference numerals of the second embodiment have applied the
identical numerals of the first embodiment. The sports shoe 1, the sole 10, the locking
device 20, the pivotal device 30 and the skate 40 of the second embodiment have the
similar configuration and same functions as the first embodiment and the detailed
descriptions are omitted. The locking device 20 and the pivotal device 30 in accordance
with the first embodiment are provided on the heel and toe end of the sole 10 respectively.
The positions of the locking device 20 and the pivotal device 30 in accordance with the
second embodiment are interchanged in comparison with those of the first embodiment.
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In assembling operation, the pivotal hook 32 provided on the skate is inserted into
the pivotal seat 31 provided in the cavity 11' at the heel end of the sole 10. In locked
position, the pivotal hook 32 is engaged with the pivotal seat 31 at the heel end of the
sole 10 and the rotatable hook 23 is engaged with the locking seat 21 at the toe end.
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Although the invention has been described in detail with reference to its presently
preferred embodiment, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that
various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the
invention, as set forth in the appended claims.