EP0886539B1 - Reinforced frame for a roller skate - Google Patents

Abstract

A frame for skates and the like with a structure comprising at least one bearing surface (3, 4) engageable by a boot or the like, and a side flange (2) comprising means for attaching one or more ground-engaging members. The components (3, 4-2, 8) of the structure are made of at least two at least partially mutually assembled materials having different mechanical properties.

Description

The present invention relates to a chassis for sliding sports articles such as skates with casters, ice skates.

These frames are intended for the connection between one or more sliding members proper (namely ice skate blade or wheels, casters) and the user's foot between which it comes.

The chassis therefore generally consist of a bearing surface capable of receiving the shoe sportsman and one or two longitudinal side plates intended to receive the wheels, casters or skate blade.

They must also have high mechanical strength characteristics while being as light as possible so as not to cause excessive efforts on the part of the sportsman.

• une résistance mécanique et une stabilité accrues notamment pour les patins de vitesse mais également pour les patins dits de "free ride", "free style" ou "hockey", afin d'offrir une efficacité et une réponse certaine dans la transmission des mouvements au patin par le patineur,
• une certaine flexibilité, notamment dans certaines zones du patin pour permettre une adaptation de la forme du patin à la trajectoire effectuée, notamment dans les courbes à grande vitesse, mais aussi l'amortissement des chocs et des vibrations,
• un poids, le plus faible possible.

Furthermore, the increasing technicality of these sliding sports articles, in particular in the case of inline skates, further increases the requirements which the skate frames must satisfy, these having to respond to a compromise between:

• increased mechanical resistance and stability, especially for speed skates but also for so-called "free ride", "free style" or "hockey" skates, in order to offer efficiency and a certain response in transmitting movements to skate by skater,
• a certain flexibility, in particular in certain areas of the skate to allow adaptation of the shape of the skate to the trajectory carried out, in particular in high-speed curves, but also the damping of shocks and vibrations,
• the lowest possible weight.

The chassis manufacturing techniques currently known do not make it possible to satisfy all these requirements while maintaining a reasonable manufacturing cost.

Indeed, the oldest manufacturing technique consists in manufacturing such chassis from of a folded sheet, in the shape of a "U", as shown for example in the German patent DE 10 33 569.

Such a manufacturing principle, admittedly inexpensive, does not however make it possible to obtain chassis high mechanical strength except to significantly increase the thickness of the sheet and therefore of its weight and even less to obtain a certain flexibility in selected places.

Another commonly used technique consists in making the frames entirely by molding. from synthetic or metallic materials. Integral molding offers the advantage of allow quite varied forms, but also has many disadvantages including the main is the impossibility of the compromise sought and cited above, because even if the material constituting the chassis has rigidity characteristics, it cannot simultaneously offer flexibility characteristics, except to provide more or less thick areas according to their function, but this would lead to molds of very expensive because complicated design.

In this area there are also known frames made of composite fibers. Such chassis can actually be made in almost any shape, but they are extremely expensive manufacturing and difficult to industrialize. Furthermore, such chassis are certainly extremely rigid but lack flexibility and are therefore fragile and not very comfortable.

Finally, it has been proposed by American patent US 5,388,846 to produce a chassis for ice or roller skating from a metal profiled bar with a cross section corresponds to the general section desired for the chassis, the final shape of the chassis being obtained after machining with removal of material.

Such a manufacturing process is still very expensive here, due to the machining time. required and the amount of material to be removed. It also does not allow great freedom in terms of the shape or profile of the chassis or in the search for compromise mentioned.

Document US 3,086,787 by C.A. Wyche relates to a roller skate in length adjustable whose stability and rigidity are ensured regardless of the number of casters and the distance between the front and rear casters. The skate includes a support plate curved in the shape of an inverted U made, preferably in a rather fine steel on which are slidably mounted elements for holding the heel and toe. Sure each side portion of the support plate is welded or screwed a metal plate extending downward, preferably in hardened steel and extending over the entire length skating.

The object of the present invention is to remedy the aforementioned drawbacks and to provide a improved chassis for sliding sports articles which allow to solve different problems stated above and which allow in particular to reconcile characteristics of mechanical strength, adaptability, flexibility of realization, lightness and low cost Manufacturing.

This object is achieved with the chassis according to the invention which comprises at least one surface support intended to receive a shoe and two lateral flanges provided with means of fixing of at least one sliding member, the bearing surface and the two lateral flanges constituting a cross-sectional structure substantially U-shaped, at least one of the two lateral flanges being composed at least partially of at least at least two materials with different mechanical characteristics, one reported on or in the other, characterized in that said at least one of the lateral flanges comprises a reinforcement produced in a different material from the rest of the structure, and in that the rest of the structure is obtained by molding.

• la figure 1 est une vue de côté d'un châssis selon un premier mode de réalisation,
• la figure 2 est une vue en coupe selon la ligne II-II de la figure 1,
• la figure 3 est une vue en coupe similaire à la figure 2 d'un châssis selon un second mode de réalisation,
• la figure 4 est une vue en coupe similaire à la figure 2 d'un châssis selon un troisième mode de réalisation,
• la figure 5 est une vue similaire à la figure 2 d'un châssis selon un quatrième mode de réalisation,
• les figures 6 à 9 sont des vues en coupe similaire à la figure 2 d'autres modes de réalisation d'un châssis obtenus par surmoulage,
• la figure 10 est une vue de côté d'un châssis obtenu selon le mode de réalisation de la figure 9.

In any case, the invention will be better understood and other characteristics thereof will be highlighted with the aid of the description which follows with reference to the appended schematic drawings showing by way of nonlimiting examples, several forms of production of chassis and in which:

• FIG. 1 is a side view of a chassis according to a first embodiment,
• FIG. 2 is a sectional view along the line II-II of FIG. 1,
• FIG. 3 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 2 of a chassis according to a second embodiment,
• FIG. 4 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 2 of a chassis according to a third embodiment,
• FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 2 of a chassis according to a fourth embodiment,
• FIGS. 6 to 9 are sectional views similar to FIG. 2 of other embodiments of a chassis obtained by overmolding,
• FIG. 10 is a side view of a chassis obtained according to the embodiment of FIG. 9.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the frame 1 according to the invention is made at least partly plastic and generally takes the form of two flanges side 2 connected to each other by two platforms 3 and 4 giving the whole a section transverse substantially in the shape of "U".

Each of these platforms 3 and 4 constitute a bearing surface capable of receiving the sports shoe, the latter (not shown) being fixed by any means known per se and in particular, glue, rivet, screws, etc., but which can also be removably fixed by means of non-permanent connection.

Note also that platforms 3 and 4 are distinct and separate from each other by a cutout 5, and located at different levels in height, the platform 4 being more low that platform 3, to take into account the natural position, slightly raised heel, of an athlete. They could of course also be arranged on the same level.

Each flange 2 has a straight elongated shape, but may also be slightly curved in an arc in the longitudinal direction.

Holes 6 are provided at the lower end of each flange for fixing rollers, or as the case may be, a skate blade.

Each hole 6 is produced in a cylindrical boss 7 which can be obtained by stamping, drilling, ... etc. The holes 6 located in correspondence in the two flanges 2 are coaxial.

According to the invention, the constituent parts of the aforementioned structure constituting the chassis 1, namely the support surface 3 and 4 and the flanges 2, are made from at least two materials of different mechanical characteristics reported one on the other or one in the other at least partially.

In this case, but not limited to, these are the flanges 2 which, at least in part, are made of a material different from the rest of the structure.

Indeed, the invention may affect other parts of the chassis as will be described later.

In the example of Figure 1 and 2, the side flanges 2 are mutually parallel to form a "U" with said bearing surface 3 and 4, and are obtained from the same material as said surfaces support, but they are doubled by external reinforcements 8 made of a different material suitable for modify the mechanical characteristics of the assembly thus produced.

For example, the reinforcements 8 are metallic while the rest of the structure is obtained by plastic molding, but one could very well imagine that the reinforcements 8 are made to from a plastic material having determined mechanical characteristics, while the rest of the structure is also made from a plastic material of different characteristics.

Still according to the example of FIGS. 1 and 2, the two flanges 2 are symmetrical, each of them being entirely made of plastic and fully lined with metal reinforcement 8 external, reported.

These metal reinforcements 8 are obtained by cutting and stamping and then attached to flanges 2 by any mechanical means such as rivets 9, in a transverse direction XX ', or again by screwing, gluing, welding, ... etc.

It is also conceivable that the metal reinforcements 8 are attached to the flanges 2 by overmolding during the molding of the latter.

Such reinforcements 8 also have the advantage of comprising at their lower parts the boss 7 drilled and tapped to allow the attachment, without intermediate piece, of the sliding members on a rigid metal area, or on hard plastic in the event that the reinforcements 8 are made of a charged plastic rather than a flexible plastic constituting the rest of the structure.

Advantageously, the metal reinforcements 8 comprise in their longitudinal direction ribs stiffening 10 obtained by stamping and extending substantially over the entire length of said flange 2 and generally arched.

Such a characteristic makes it possible, for equal rigidity, to practically halve the thickness and therefore the weight of the reinforcement 8.

The exemplary embodiment of FIG. 3 essentially differs from the previous one in that the two 2A flanges are substantially symmetrical and made entirely of plastic, one of them being fully lined with a metal reinforcement 8A, while the other is lined with a reinforcement 8A ' different in plastic material, each one being related to the associated flange 2A and defining the fixing holes 6.

In this case, the metal reinforcement 8A does not have stiffening ribs but is noticeably bent. The plastic reinforcement 8A 'is curved according to a thickness predetermined according to the characteristics to be obtained. The resulting chassis 1A has asymmetrical qualities.

According to the embodiment of Figure 4, the two flanges are symmetrical and are made almost entirely by integral metal reinforcements 8B, 8B ', covering base parts 2B plastic material on which they are externally attached and which are obtained from material, by molding with the bearing surface 3, 4.

It will be noted that in this case, the reinforcements 8B and 8B 'are added to the rest of the structure in plastic material molded by upper returns 11 obtained by directed perpendicular bending inward and able to be housed in recesses 12 provided under the support plane 4. The fixing positive is carried out as already described by rivets 9 in a transverse direction XX '.

In this case also, the drilled and tapped bosses 7 are produced only on the reinforcements 8B, 8B ', because the base parts 2B on which they are fixed only double them partially.

According to the embodiment of FIG. 5, the chassis 1C comprises on the one hand a flange 2C 'in plastic material obtained from material by molding with the bearing surface 3, 4, and a flange constituted an integral metal reinforcement 8C covering a base part 2C of plastic material on which it is attached externally and which is also obtained from material by molding with the surface support 3, 4.

In this case also, as regards the reinforced side of the chassis, the boss 7 drilled and tapped is made directly on the reinforcement 8C as before.

Thus, whatever the chosen scenario, an improvement in the rigidity of the chassis in torsion and bending is obtained thanks to the reinforcing elements. Of course, these can be arranged between the inside and outside of the chassis in order to optimize its mechanical characteristics required. As already mentioned through the example in Figure 5, it is possible to have a reinforcement on one side of the chassis because we know that the maximum of the forces transmitted by the skater to wheels pass through the skirt or inner flange of the chassis. It is also for this reason that some scenarios envisage the use of different materials between the internal flange and the external flange.

In the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 6 to 10, the chassis 1E, 1F, 1G, 1H, consists of a generally a support surface 3, 4, and two lateral flanges 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, parallel between them and forming a "U" with said bearing surface, this structure being obtained by overmolding of a plastic material around at least one reinforcement 8E, 8F, 8G, 8H, of metal or of a plastic material different from the first, arranged inside said flanges.

More particularly, according to Figure 6 the reinforcement 8E forms a "U" extending on the one hand inside of the support plane 4, and on the other hand inside the lateral flanges 2E by their parallel branches, the end of these lying below the end portions of the 2E flanges which are pierced with holes 6 and tapped to secure the sliding members.

On the other hand, according to the variant embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the reinforcement 8F forms a "U" extending on the one hand inside the support plane 4, and on the other hand inside the lateral flanges 2F by their parallel branches, the end of these extending beyond the end parts of the 2F flanges which are drilled with holes 6 and tapped to secure the sliding members. The latter solution has the advantage of creating reinforcements at the level of the holes 6.

According to the example in FIG. 8, the chassis 1G is made up of two parts, the first part integrating a reinforcement 8G overmolded in a portion of support surface 4 and a flange 2G overall perpendicular to said bearing surface portion 4, the second part comprising a portion of additional support surface 4 and a second flange 2G 'free of reinforcement, means for connection of the two parts 2G, 2G ', of frame 1G being arranged at the level of the bearing surface 4.

The connection means of these two chassis parts consist of an extension 8G a of the reinforcement 8G of the first chassis part extending beyond its bearing surface part 4 so as to open out freely in order to cooperate with a corresponding housing 4b formed in the other part of the bearing surface 4 of the second part of chassis 1G

The reinforcement part 8Ga is immobilized in the housing 4b by any means, in the occurrence by a screw 11. The advantage of such an embodiment is that the chassis can be produced in a simpler way in two parts and that the assembly of these two parts can be obtained easily by the insert of one of the parties.

In the chassis 1H, according to the example in FIG. 9, the reinforcement 8H forms a "U" extending so visible on the internal faces of the "U" formed by the parallel branches of the 2H flanges and by the support plane 4 which connects them.

According to this same example, at least one of the lateral flanges 2H has a longitudinal window 10 for viewing the reinforcement 8H, as shown in FIG. 10.

It will be noted that the reinforcements can also be made of composite materials (fibers of glass, carbon, ... etc).

Claims (21)

1. Frame for a gliding sport article having at least one bearing surface (3, 4) adapted to receive a shoe and two lateral flanges (2) provided with means for attaching at least one gliding member, the bearing surface (3, 4) and the two lateral flanges (2) constituting a structure having a substantially U-shaped transverse section, at least one of the two lateral flanges (2) being composed at least partially of at least two materials of different mechanical characteristics connected onto or into one another, characterized in that said at least one of the lateral flanges (2) has a reinforcement (8, 8A, 8B, 8C, 8F, 8G, 8H) made of a material that is different from the rest of the structure, and in that the rest of the structure is obtained by molding.
2. Frame according to claim 1, characterized in that its structure, namely the bearing surface (3, 4) adapted to receive the boot, as well as at least one part of a lateral flange (2, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H) is made from a same material, said flange being doubled at least partially with an external or internal reinforcement (8, 8A, 8B, 8C, 8E, 8F, 8G, 8H) made of another material.
3. Frame according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the reinforcement (8, 8A, 8B, 8C, 8E, 8F, 8G, 8H) is metallic, whereas the rest of the structure is made of plastic.
4. Frame according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the reinforcement (8, 8A, 8B, 8C, 8E, 8F, 8G, 8H) is made from a plastic material with predetermined mechanical characteristics, whereas the rest of the structure is also made from a plastic material with different characteristics.
5. Frame according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has a bearing surface (3, 4) and two lateral flanges (2, 2A, 2B, 2C) parallel with respect to one another and forming a "U" with said bearing surface, this structure being obtained by molding a plastic material, at least one of said flanges being doubled at least in part with an external metallic reinforcement (8, 8A, 8B, 8C).
6. Frame according to claim 5, characterized in that the two flanges (2) are symmetrical, each one being integrally made of a plastic material and integrally doubled with external connected metal reinforcements (8).
7. Frame according to claim 5, characterized in that the two flanges (2A) are substantially symmetrical and integrally made of plastic material, only one of them being integrally doubled with a metallic reinforcement (8A), whereas the other is doubled with a plastic reinforcement (8A').
8. frame according to claim 5, characterized in that the two flanges are symmetrical and have integral metallic reinforcements (8B, 8B') covering the plastic base parts (2B) on which they are externally connected, and which are obtained in one piece by molding with the bearing surface (3, 4).
9. Frame according to claim 5, characterized in that it comprises, on the one hand, a plastic flange (2C') obtained in one piece by molding with the bearing surface (3, 4), and a flange constituted by an integral metallic reinforcement (8C) covering a plastic base part (2C) on which it is connected externally, and which is also obtained in one piece by molding with the bearing surface (3, 4).
10. Frame according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that the reinforcements (8, 8A, 8B, 8C) are connected to the flanges (2, 2A, 2B, 2C) by any mechanical means.
11. Frame according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that the reinforcements (8, 8A, 8B, 8C) are externally connected to the flanges (2, 2A, 2B, 2C) by molding.
12. Frame according to any one of claims 1-11, characterized in that the reinforcements (8, 8A, 8B, 8C) are metallic and are obtained by cutting and stamping.
13. Frame according to one of claims 1-12, characterized in that the reinforcements (8, 8A, 8B, 8C) comprise, at one lower end, a bored and threaded boss (7) adapted to attaching the gliding members.
14. Frame according to any one of claims 1-13, characterized in that the reinforcements (8, 8A, 8B, 8C) comprise stiffening ribs (10).
15. Frame according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that it has a bearing surface (3, 4) and two lateral flanges (2E, 2F, 2G, 2H) parallel with respect to one another and forming a "U" with said bearing surface, this structure being obtained by molding a plastic material around at least one reinforcement (8E, 8F, 8G, 8H) arranged inside said flanges.
16. Frame according to claim 16, characterized in that the reinforcement (8E) forms a "U" extending, on the one hand, inside the bearing plane (4) and, on the other hand, inside the lateral flanges (2E) by their parallel arms, the ends of the latter being positioned on this side of the end parts of the flanges (2E) which are bored with holes (6) and threaded to ensure the attachment of the gliding members.
17. Frame according to claim 15, characterized in that the reinforcement (8F) forms a "U" extending, on the one hand, inside the bearing plane (4) and, on the other hand, inside the lateral flanges (2F) by their parallel arms, the ends of the latter extending beyond the end parts of the flanges (2F) which are bored with holes (6) and threaded to ensure the attachment of the gliding members.
18. Frame according to claim 16, characterized in that it has two parts, the first integrating a reinforcement (8G) molded in a portion of the bearing surface (4) and a generally perpendicular flange (2G), the second having a complementary bearing surface and a second flange (2G') with no reinforcement, means for connecting the two parts of the frame (1G) being arranged at the level of the bearing surface (4).
19. Frame according to claim 18, characterized in that the means for connecting its two parts has an extension (8Ga) of the reinforcement (8G) of the first extending beyond the part of its bearing surface (4) so as to exit freely therefrom in order to cooperate with a corresponding housing (4b) provided in the other part of the bearing surface (4) of the second part of the frame (1G).
20. Frame according to claim 15, characterized in that the reinforcement (8H) forms a "U" extending in an apparent manner on the internal surfaces of the "U" formed by the parallel arms of the flanges (2H) and by the bearing plane (4) connecting them.
21. Frame according to claim 20, characterized in that at least one of the lateral flanges (2H) comprises a longitudinal slot (10) for visualizing the reinforcement (8H).

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