WO2007042773B1

WO2007042773B1 - Self-propelled skates

Info

Publication number: WO2007042773B1
Application number: PCT/GB2006/003727
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bryan John Rawlings; David Andrew Bees
Original assignee: Bryan John Rawlings
Priority date: 2005-10-08
Filing date: 2006-10-06
Publication date: 2007-08-23
Also published as: WO2007042773A2; GB0520536D0; GB0619783D0; GB0807717D0; GB2447363A; WO2007042773A3; GB2431887A

Abstract

A self-propelled roller skate (10) is responsive to longitudinal movement of a wearer's leg, using a pair of splayed swing arms (16,17), pivotally mounted at their inboard ends upon a sole plate (11), and carrying outboard ground-engagement wheels (13,15), with a drive through a one¬ way drive transfer coupling (26) operative upon a driving wheel by reciprocating arm pivot; provision is made for uniform drive action throughout an arm driving stroke by use of a variable transfer gearing, such as a variable geometry spiral element (60) in a drive band (22) between arms and wheels.

Claims

AMENDED CLAIMS received by the International Bureau on 20 June 2007 (20.06.07)

1.

Askatβ (10) comprising a sole plate (11) a ground running element (13, 15) mounted upon a movable support arm or strut (16, 17) a drive transfer or coupling (22), operative between sole plate or support arm and ground running element, responsive to relative movement therebetween, and configured to provide an even drive over support arm motion.

2.

A skate of Claim 1, with a spiral coupling in a drive transfer line.

3.

A skate of either preceding claim, in which the sole plate is maintained at a desired inclination, throughout its movement, by co-operative interaction of a pair of support arms, with variable relative sptay.

4.

A skate of any preceding claim with a brake selectively operable upon a ground running element, throughout support arm movement to inhibit drive transfer.

5.

A skate of any preceding claim, in which the drive transfer mechanism is contained within the embrace of opposed support arms.

6.

A skate of any preceding claim fitted with a supplementary ground running wheel deployable to provide a manoeuvring or steering point.

7.

A skate of any preceding claim, with a pair of opposed depending support arms pivotally mounted upon a sole plate, at juxtaposed inboard ends, with a drive coupling operable between one support arm and a wheel or wheel hub carried by another support arm with drive transfer therebetween upon relative arm splay.

8.

A skate of any preceding claim, comprising a sole plate for demountable fitment to a wearer's foot or footwear, carrying a pair of longitudinally-opposed, rnutually-splayable, swing arms or struts, with ground running elements, such as wheels, at their outboard ends remote from the sole plate; a linear to rotary drive transfer operable upon arm pivot about the sole plate, and/or relative arm movement, with a one-way or free-wheel over-run drive coupling, such as a ratchet, to allow driving wheel free-wheel over-run for continued motion after or between drive stroke action.

9.

A skate of any preceding claim with a drive coupling comprising a drive band running between ground wheels, and/or support arm and around a drive axle or drive pulley of a driven wheel, to unwind and re-wind respectively upon opening and closing movement between sole plate and wheels and/or relative arm splay and closure.

10.

A skate of any preceding claim with gearing incorporated in the drive transfer, using different diameter drive pulleys, or a variable diameter pulley, such as with a spiral drive path, and/or intermeshed drive train gears.

11.

A skate of any preceding claim with a drive train intercouple between arm or strut splay and wheel rotation with a compensator to achieve uniform rotary drive action for a ground engagement wheel from non-linear variable spacing between drive arms or struts.

12.

A skate of any preceding claim wherein respective swing arm inboard ends are co-operatively inter coupled by complementary intermeshed gear teeth for synchronised arm movement upon a common relative sole plate movement.

13.

A skate of any preceding claim wherein respective swing arm inboard ends are drivingly intercαupled by asymmetrical intermeshed cog teeth for differential respective arm pivot and sole plate tilt upon downward movement.

14.

A skate of any preceding claim, with a spiral drive train coupling or belt drive path for uniform rotary drive to a ground wheel hub upon non-linear drive band movement,

15.

A skate of any preceding claim, incorporating a brake actuator, operable by sole plate tilt about a ground wheel, to move an arm, wheel or wheel hub mounted brake arm, with brake shoe for wheel, hub or brake disk engagement.

16.

A propelled skate for foot or footwear mounting comprising a mounting for a wearer's foot either directly or via footwear;

17.

A skate of claim 16 with; a plurality of tever arms pivotally attached to the mounting, with a forward or leading lever arm and a rearward or trailing lever arm in relation to the orientation of the wearer's foot: a forward lever arm with a range of pivot movement from forwards and upwards to backwards and downwards, and a rearward lever arm with a corresponding or synchronised range of pivot movement from backwards and upwards to forwards and downwards; a wheel or set of wheels, attached to the forward lever arm at the opposite outboard end to its pivot, orientated so that any wheel would turn forwards or backwards in relation to a wearer's foot orientation; an axle carried by the rear lever arm, for rotation in the pivot plane; a flexible or interlinked drive connection, one end attached to the forward lever, a length being wound around a driving wheel axle, or wound around a spool whose rotation would rotate said axle, and the other end of the connection fixed to said axle, the length of the flexible connection being such that when the forward rearward lever arms move apart or splay, the drive connection unwinds around the axle spool, and the axle would be rotatably driven by the spool; a rear wheel or set of wheels attached to the rearward lever arm at the opposite end from its pivot, and orientated so that any wheel or roller would turn forwards or backwards in relation to a wearer's foot orientation; a freewheel mechanism that would allow forward but inhibit backward motion connected between the axle and rear wheel or set of wheels, so that any forward axle rotation would cause forward rotation of the rear wheel or set of wheels, but any rearward rotation of said axle, or slowing or cessation of rotation of the axle would not affect the forward rotation of the rear wheel or set; and a spring operative between the freewheel and axle that would be tensioned by axle forward rotation, and so would tend to rotate the axle backwards upon relaxation of forced axis rotation; with a flexible or linked connection formed into a spiral shape by one or more winding formers, so that as it unwinds, the effective axle drive radius decreases, thus compensating for what would otherwise be a variation in the gearing of the rotation of the rear wheel or set, upon downward foot motion.

18,

A skate of any preceding claim with a ground engagement wheel mounted for steering swivel action and a steering coupling between sole plate swivel mounting hub and a ground engagement wheel swivel mounting hub and a drive belt between swivel hubs.

19.

A skate of any preceding claim with a swivel castor mounting of a lead ground wheel, with an orientation coupling to preserve castor action upon arm or strut movement.

20.

A skate of any preceding claim incorporating a supplementary wheel at a shorter or intermediate wheelbase and deployabie selectively for greater manoeuvrability.